DUSHANBE, May 20, 2015, Asia-Plus — Taliban units that are advancing in the territory of Afghanistan have taken control of almost 80% of Badakhshan province, which borders Tajikistan, a source at the Tajik intelligence services was quoted as saying by TASS on May 15.
“At present, separate units of the terrorists have advanced right up to the Afghan-Tajik border and have stopped a few kilometers away from it,” said he. “The fact can’t help causing concern in this country.”
The information gathered by the intelligence agencies suggests these groups of radicals were stranded in the so-called tribal area in the Pakistani region of Shomali Waziristan but the Pakistani Army forced them to cross over into Afghanistan.
“Proceeding from the information we have, the Taliban don’t have any plans to cross the state border into Tajikistan at the moment but nonetheless a second line of defense consisting of Tajikistani Army units has been set up along the most vulnerable sections of the border as a preventive measure,” he said.
He said the presence of Islamic State supporters and emissaries in the Taliban units was not ruled out, since the criminal milieu making an advance on the other side of the border had an international composition and descendants from Central Asian countries including Tajikistan as well as from some European countries were fighting in its ranks.
“We’re watching events closely and are prepared to tackle events of any kind,” the official said. “We also hope to get assistance from the forces of the CIS Collective Security Treaty Organization.”
“At present, units and weaponry of the Collective Forces’ rapid response contingent have been airlifted to the area of the Tajik-Afghan border as part of an undeclared inspection of combat readiness and a subsequent antiterrorist exercise,” he said.
