DUSHANBE, May 15, 2014 Asia-Plus – Director of the Center for Strategic Studies under the President of Tajikistan, Mr. Khudoberdi Kholiqnazarov, considers that the situation in Afghanistan not only remains tense but it is becoming worse.
Speaking at an international conference entitled “The Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s Role in Providing Security: Challenges and Perspectives” in Dushanbe, Tajik think tank head noted yesterday that the armed opposition is gradually strengthening its positions in Afghanistan.
“Beginning from 2012, the Taliban militants began to appear in the western and northern parts of Afghanistan closer to Afghanistan’s common borders with Turkmenistan and Tajikistan,” noted Tajik senior expert. “Seeming internal political balance is observed only in large administrative centers of Afghanistan and it is provided mainly by force of foreign arms and Afghan power-wielding structures that have been established due to foreign funds.”
Mr. Kholiqnazarov is sure that Afghanistan’s instability will affect neighboring countries if urgent measures are not taken. “Central Asia’s nations will be faced with difficulties,” said he. “International terrorist organizations will try to spread subversive activities from Afghanistan to neighboring countries.”
Tajik think tank head stressed that the Taliban militants were appearing from time to time close to Tajik border in Kunduz, Takhar and Badakhshan provinces.
“For the purpose of preventing these and other threats emanating from Afghanistan there ought to take collective measures involving the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) forces and financial opportunities of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member nations,” Kholiqnazarov said, noting that the CSTO and the SCO must combine their efforts aimed at settling the situation in Afghanistan.
He pointed to the necessity of strengthening the Shouroobod (Khatlon province) stretch of Tajikistan’s common border with Afghanistan and Khorog border unit in the Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO).
