BOKHTAR, Tajikistan -- More than 1,800 state workers have been mobilized in the southern Tajik region of Khatlon to go door-to-door to warn people about joining religious extremist groups.
During the informal talks -- part of a wider campaign known simply as Door-To-Door -- officials urge people to stay vigilant against online groups that seek to recruit young men for terrorist organizations under the guise of Islam, according to Khatlon residents.
The government in Dushanbe is growing anxious about the rise of religious extremism after dozens of Tajik nationals were linked to terrorist attacks and deadly plots in Russia, Iran, the United States, and Europe this year.
"The information that we get from law enforcement agencies is alarming. The number of young people who joined religious extremist groups is very high in our province," Khatlon Governor Davlatali Saeed told reporters in August. He did not provide exact numbers.
The Door-To-Door teams have visited more than 620,000 households across the province so far to speak to young people and their parents, Saeed added.
The teams -- which consist of government officials, local council members, teachers, and doctors -- have taken special courses beforehand, he said.
A Khatlon resident told RFE/RL that officials were also asking people to remind their relatives who work in Russia to beware of potential recruiters to terrorist organizations.
"They told me to always warn my migrant-worker husband and son that they should not trust all kinds of people, to be cautious, and just to focus on their own work," said Gulandom, who only gave her first name.
Authorities claim that a majority of Tajik nationals who have joined extremist groups like Islamic State (IS) and its affiliates have been radicalized in Russia.
Targeted By 'Internet Imams'
One study published by the Academy of the Tajik Interior Ministry in August concluded that at least 85 percent of Tajik citizens who fought for IS in foreign-conflict zones such as Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan were recruited while working in Russia.
The authors of the study warned that the religious extremist ideology is on the rise among migrants and poses a "serious threat to national security." They warned against "Internet imams" who use social media to reach out to migrant workers.
Since January, up to 30 Tajik nationals have been accused of carrying out or plotting terrorist acts abroad on behalf of Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K), an affiliate of IS.
Russian officials claim the March 22 deadly terrorist attack on the Crocus City Hall concert venue outside Moscow was carried out by four Tajik nationals.
Up to 20 other suspects, most of them Tajiks, have been arrested in Russia for aiding the alleged assailants. The attack, which was claimed by IS-K, killed 145 people.
In Iran, two Tajik citizens reportedly carried out the double suicide bombing that killed 91 people in the city of Kerman on January 3.
In June, eight Tajik migrants were arrested in the United States on suspicion of plotting terrorist attacks on U.S. soil.
German police reported in January that a Tajik man was arrested on suspicion of planning attacks on cathedrals in Germany and Austria.
In Tajikistan, a blast that targeted the local chief of the ruling People's Democratic Party in January has been linked to IS-K. The authorities described the incident in Khatlon as a "terrorist attack" but did not provide further details.
Tajikistan -- an impoverished, mainly Muslim country of some 10 million -- has the ingredients to make some of its disenchanted youth susceptible to IS propaganda online, which preys on vulnerable populations.
Unemployment and corruption have plagued the country for three decades.
The government tightly controls the practice of Islam, closing all religious schools and many mosques, and banning the Islamic hijab in schools and the workplace -- a crackdown that has angered many Tajiks.
Clutching At Straws
The Door-To-Door initiative -- along with the Village-By-Village and Street-By-Street campaigns -- were created in Tajikistan a decade ago to promote government policies. They mostly focused on social, financial, and cultural issues.
In some regions, the campaign also promotes national Tajik clothing for women, a case that Dushanbe champions in its efforts to banish the Islamic hijab.
A university professor in the capital, Dushanbe, says the campaign's new emphasis on extremism shows that the government is clutching at straws to stop Tajiks from joining radical groups.
"Visiting people's homes to personally warn everyone about the online recruiters could be effective, because the parents of the Tajiks who went to Syria or attacked Crocus say they didn't know their sons were being brainwashed by IS," said the professor, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
"But the lectures alone are not enough," he said. "Young people need to have jobs with decent wages and other economic opportunities that gives them hope for a good future. Hopelessness can be dangerous."
