DUSHANBE, October 15, 2009, Asia-Plus — President Emomali Rahmon departed for Kazakhstan today afternoon.
Tomorrow, along with other heads of member nations of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) President Emomali Rahmon will attend the third stage of the military exercise for the new Collective Operation Reaction Forces (COFR) created within the framework of the CSTO that is currently going on at the Matybulak training ground, presidential press secretary Abdufattoh Sharifzoda said. According to him, Tajik leader will return to Dushanbe Friday evening.
We will recall that the initial stage of the military exercise marking the first official testing of COFR was held in Moscow on August 26-28. The first stage involved command-staff planning linked to the military-political aspects of coalition interaction.
The second stage was held in Belarus in late September and the third stage was launched in Kazakhstan this month. Military units joined the second and third stages.
According to the Ministry of Defense (MoD), the main purpose of third phase, involving some 7,000 military personnel, is in rehearsing preparation and joint use of COFR and the operational command troops Yug (South) in the region of the collective security. The MoD operational group is representing Tajikistan in the third stage of the exercise in Kazakhstan.
The CORF was initiated by the Russian Federation in order to transform and expand by three to four times the existing CSTO rapid reaction dimension into a permanently ready, combat-capable force designed for intervention in crisis situations on the territory of CSTO member states.
