evidence: Tajikistan has also accumulated a hefty $3.2 billion in foreign debt, amounting to 40 percent of the country’s GDP. China is the biggest creditor with a loan of more than $1.2 billion. Though Tajikistan received concessions from China to temporarily suspend debt repayment due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it is not clear when Tajikistan must resume payment. Most Chinese debts are for huge infrastructure projects funded under China’s Belt and Road Initiative that neither yield any return in the short-term nor typically benefit the poor and marginalized segments of society. Chinese loans have mainly benefited Tajik ruling elites and further eroded the country’s sovereignty through mining concessions and permission granted to the People’s Republic Army of China to establish military outposts in the mountainous Pamir region of Tajikistan. [...] Meanwhile, the situation in Afghanistan continues to pose threats to Tajikistan’s and other neighboring Central Asian states’ security. Spillover effects of the Taliban victory — including infiltration by violent Islamic extremist groups, drugs and organized crime, and the possibility of a full-blown Afghan civil war — are major concerns. Tajikistan is particularly anxious about the security of its southern border with Afghanistan, an 850-mile line that is stretched over the Pamir mountains and some inhospitable terrains. Tajikistan is the only Central Asian country that has objected to the Taliban takeover, calling for a more inclusive government in Afghanistan while providing shelter to several former Afghan government leaders, including those from the former Northern Alliance.