The Collective Security Treaty Organization’s (CSTO) Deputy Secretary General Takhir Khairulloyev visited the Tajikistan-Afghanistan border last week as part of an interstate policy to determine the needs of Tajik border guards.
According to a statement issued by the CSTO on Monday, Khairulloyev visited the Tajik-Afghan as a member of the Working Group on the finalization of the CSTO Special Interstate Policy.
The statement noted that the visit was to “clarify the requirements of the Tajik Border Troops in armament, military equipment and technical means of border protection.”
In addition, the statement read that “members of the working group and experts from the border services of the CSTO member states visited sections of the ‘Panj’, ‘Hamadoni’, ‘Shurabad’ and ‘Darvaz’ border guard units.
“As a result of the visit, a report was prepared assessing the situation, condition and provision of the Border Troops of the Republic of Tajikistan with weapons, equipment and technical means,” the statement added.
The CSTO has stated in the past that “Central Asia, along with some positive developments related to the consensus reached by the countries of the region on border issues, the challenges and threats emanating from the territory of Afghanistan, where the positions of various terrorist groups and forces behind the illegal production and distribution of narcotic drugs are strengthened, remain very relevant.”
Khairulloyev’s visit comes on the heels of recent reports that terrorist groups based in Afghanistan have plotted and executed attacks against Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, in the past year and a half.
According to US officials, more than 20 armed groups claim to have a presence in the country.
In early March, senior diplomats from Russia, China, Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan gathered in Tashkent to discuss the situation in Afghanistan.
“The participants, pointing out that all terrorist groups based in Afghanistan continue to pose a serious threat to regional and global security, strongly called on the current de facto Afghan authorities to take more effective measures to eliminate terrorist groups in the country,” read a statement from Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
