DUSHANBE, September 24, 2010, Asia-Plus — The recent events in Tajikistan and, first of all, activation of some illegal armed groups in the east of the country have triggered mixed reaction in international community, Tajik expert Rustam Haidarov said.
According to him, experts and politicians from countries such as the United States, Russia, and Germany are actively discussing causes and possible consequents of confrontation between the government and illegal religious groups in Tajikistan. “Meanwhile, neighboring countries have not yet reacted to these events. It is probable that they are still assessing the situation or just consider that the incident in Tajikistan is an internal one and there ought not to interfere into the situation,” said Dr. Haidarov, “Anyway, it should be remembered that all the Central Asian countries have similar social and political landscapes and scenario of Tajik events may repeat in neighboring countries.”
The expert regrets lack of interaction between Central Asia’s countries in providing collective security in the region. “There is no awareness of the fact that religious extremism is an international phenomenon, and therefore, the Central Asian countries must assist each other in the fight against religious extremism in the region,” said Haidarov, “Victory of religious extremism in one of Central Asia’s countries poses threat to all the secular countries in the region and the countries of the region must combine efforts to fight religious extremism.”
