Russia has provided 1.1 million U.S. dollars to Tajikistan for construction of a new outpost on the Tajik-Afghan border, a senior Russian diplomat said, amid worsening conflict in Afghanistan as U.S.-led troops withdraw after a 20-year intervention.
The Russian and Tajik governments will soon sign the agreement on aid provision, Interfax quoted Deputy Russian Foreign Minister Oleg Syromolotov as saying.
The planned outpost will be located in Tajikistan's Khatlon province adjacent to Afghanistan's Kunduz province whose capital city Taliban militants took over this week as part of a broader offensive.
Syromolotov described the location of the planned facility as one of the most vulnerable points along the Tajik-Afghan border.
Recall, Deputy Russian Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko told RIA news agency on July 22 that an intergovernmental agreement is now being prepared for signing on the provision of aid to Tajikistan for the construction of a border outpost.
More Hundreds of Afghan servicemen crossed the border into Tajikistan last month, fleeing a Taliban offensive. Tajikistan later sent back the Afghan servicemen as the Kabul government arranged special flights to return them.
On July 22, Tajikistan put its entire armed forces on high alert for a combat-readiness check and relocated thousands of troops to the border with Afghanistan amid increasing security concerns in Central Asia over the Taliban's territorial gains in the northern part of the war-torn country. Tajikistan mobilized 100,000 active servicemen, 130,000 reserve officers and soldiers, as well as law enforcement agencies for the exercise on the orders of President Emomali Rahmon, in the biggest such exercise in the 30-year history of independent Tajikistan.
Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, another Central Asian nation bordering Afghanistan, concluded a ten-day joint military exercise close to the Tajik-Afghan border on August 10 and Moscow has delivered new hardware to its military base in Tajikistan to reinforce it. The Russian military base deployed in Tajikistan is subordinate to Russia’s Central Military District and it is Russia's largest non-naval military facility outside the country.
It is to be noted that the Taliban militants have taken more territory in Afghanistan over the last two months than at any time since they were ousted from power in 2001.
Northern cities, including Sheberghan, Aybak, Kunduz, Sar-e-Pul, Taloqan and Faizabad have fallen to the Taliban in quick succession.
