The Tajik government cited their own chaotic internal situation caused by the 1992-1997 civil war and lack of funds to provide for refugees as justifications.
[3] Tajikistan's richer fellow ex-Soviet Central Asian countries Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan also closed their borders to Afghan refugees.
[4] From January 2008 to December 2009, the UNHCR estimates that an additional 3,600 Afghan refugees arrived in Tajikistan, fleeing violence and lawlessness resulting from the Taliban advance into northern Afghanistan's Kunduz Province.
There has also been a shift in the geographical and ethnic origins of refugees, with an increasing number of people from central and southern Afghan cities such as Helmand, Kandahar, and Kabul.
[8] However, as of 2004[update], refugees who arrived after 2000 were still officially prohibited from residing in 15 cities, including Dushanbe and Khujand.
[7] In 2008, Tajikistan's government granted citizenship to roughly 1,000 Afghans who had resided in the country for two decades, as part of a deal with the United Nations.
There are at least 90 Afghans serving prison sentences in Tajikistan as of March 2021[update], primarily for illegal entry or drug trafficking.
[16][17] A few are also involved in the smuggling of ferula, a plant with medicinal and culinary uses, whose export has been banned since September 2008; it can fetch prices of as high as US$50 per kilogram in Afghanistan.