Tajikistan has returned 280 Afghan soldiers back to Afghanistan after they crossed the border to escape militant onslaught, a source in the Tajik national security agency told Sputnik on Wednesday.
Media reported earlier that 2,300 soldiers were sent back after fleeing across Afghanistan’s northern border.
“Only 280 Afghan service people and border guards who crossed into Tajikistan during hostilities have been sent back to Kabul.
“There are 1,300 Afghans soldiers in Tajikistan,’’ the source said.
The soldiers’ retreat was the latest such incident.
Hundreds had escaped to Tajikistan in the past weeks as the Taliban insurgency continued to make territorial gains in Afghanistan’s rural North.
(NAN)