DUSHANBE, July 25, Asia-Plus – Afghanistan”s northern neighbor Tajikistan will tighten security in the run-up to the Afghan presidential election next month, Tajik Interior Ministry said on Wednesday after detaining three Islamist militants.
The August 20 presidential poll, the second in Afghanistan”s short history as a democracy, will take place at a time when violence in Afghanistan is at its worst since the Taliban were forced from power in 2001, Reuters reported on July 22.
“The situation at the Afghan border may deteriorate ahead of the elections as coalition forces and Afghanistan”s own security forces will seek to keep the whole country under control and different criminal groups may try to seek temporary refuge in neighboring countries including ours,” Interior Minister Abdurahim Qahhorov said.
Speaking to journalists in Dushanbe, he said Tajik police and border guards in the area would be reinforced.
“We will not allow any infiltration or breaching of our state border,” Qahhorov said.
Tajikistan has been engaged in a series of gunfights this month which it described as clashes with drug trafficking gangs of the Taliban-linked Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU).
