Russia to strengthen Tajik army, security services amid Afghanistan threats

AKIPRESS.COM - Russia will help strengthen Tajikistan's army and security services against a backdrop of threats to the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) posed by international terrorist groups in Afghanistan, Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev told a meeting of the CSTO Security Councils Secretaries Committee in Bishkek on Thursday,TASS reports.
"From our part, we will bolster the forces of the Republic of Tajikistan through the Ministry of Defense and Russian special agencies, including during the implementation of the program to modernize the Tajik Armed Forces," the press service of the Russian Security Council quotes Patrushev as saying.
Experts point out that major threats to the CSTO countries are posed by northern provinces of Afghanistan, where terrorist groups are becoming increasingly active, militants returning to their home countries from Syria and Iraq.
The stable trend of increasing tensions on the Tajik-Afghan border is the most worrisome for the armed forces.
To counter terrorism on the CSTO borders, the potential of the Russian Kant base in Kyrgyzstan should be exploited to the full, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said in late April during talks with Kyrgyz Chief of the General Staff, Major General Rayimberdi Duishenbiev.
The Collective Security Treaty was signed on May 15, 1992 in Tashkent, and the agreement on the establishment of the Collective Security Treaty Organization was inked on October 7, 2002. As of now, the organization includes Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan.