A meeting of the Council of Defense Ministers of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) member nations took place in the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek, on April 30. CSTO defense ministers reportedly discussed the current situation on the Tajik-Afghan border.
According to the CSTO Secretariat, the meeting was attended by defense ministers of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan as well as acting Secretary–General of the Organization Valery Semerikov.
The meeting participants reportedly discussed challenges and threats to security in the Central Asian region.
Speaking at the meeting, Semerikov, in particular, noted, “Terrorists of various kind have expanded their presence and activities in northern Afghanistan making plans to create the so-called Islamic Caliphate Khorasan with further extension of its influence to the neighboring countries of Central Asia. Consequently, the threat of committing terrorist attacks n territories of CSTO member nations has significantly increased.”
The CSTO Council of Defense Ministers endorsed the list of additional measures aimed at reducing tension along Tajikistan’s common border with Afghanistan.
The additional measures reportedly include a complex of measures in the field of political and military cooperation between the CSTO member nations aimed at raising efficiency of counteraction to extremist, terrorist and drug trafficking threats on the Tajik-Afghan border emanating from the territory of Afghanistan.
The regional security organization was initially formed in 1992 for a five-year period by the members of the CIS Collective Security Treaty (CST) — Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, which were joined by Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Belarus the following year. A 1994 treaty reaffirmed the desire of all participating states to abstain from the use or threat of force, and prevented signatories from joining any “other military alliances or other groups of states” directed against members states. The CST was then extended for another five-year term in April 1999, and was signed by the presidents of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan. In October 2002, the group was renamed as the CSTO. Uzbekistan that suspended its membership in 1999 returned to the CSTO again in 2006 after it came under international criticism for its brutal crackdown of antigovernment demonstrations in the eastern city of Andijon in May 2005. On June 28, 2012, Uzbekistan announced that it has suspended its membership of the CSTO, saying the organization ignores Uzbekistan and does not consider its views. The CSTO is currently an observer organization at the United Nations General Assembly.
