Demining of the border of two neighboring states should be completed by the end of 2019.
Today, demining is taking place on the Uzbek-Tajik border in the direction of the cities of Penjikent and Samarkand.
Tajik specialists are helping the Uzbek sappers in demining the border, said the head of the press center of the border troops of the State Committee for National Security of Tajikistan, Lieutenant Colonel Muhammad Ulugkhojaev.
According to him, before the start of demining the border, a joint group of governments of the two countries, which included representatives of the Border Guards of the National Security Committee, the Ministry of Defense and the National Mine Center of Tajikistan, got acquainted with the map of the mined border areas.
In the meantime, information on which sections of the Uzbek-Tajik border were mined and what their total area remains confidential.
Recall that during the first state visit of the President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyaev to Tajikistan in March of this year, the heads of the two states agreed that by the end of 2019 they would complete all mine clearance work.
Uzbekistan mined mountainous parts of the border with Tajikistan in the 90s of the last century. Then official Tashkent explained such actions by allegedly wanting to prevent militants of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan from entering its territory.
According to the data of the National Mining Center of Tajikistan, in general, over the past twenty years, 374 citizens of the republic have died in the explosion of anti-personnel mines, another 485 Tajiks were injured: tragedies took place not only on the Tajik-Uzbek border, but also inside the republic. How many people died on the Tajik-Uzbek border is not specified.
