The headquarters negotiation to discuss preparations for the forthcoming four military exercises of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) were conducted in Dushanbe from June 8 to June 10, according to the press service of the CSTO Joint Headquarters.
Representatives of the CSTO member nations and a group of officers of the CSTO Joint Headquarters participated in the negotiations led by Air Force Major-General Turaly Koishikulov.
The negotiation participants reportedly discussed the basics of the joint exercises, the content and duration of stages, as well as the preliminary composition of command and control bodies and troops.
Recall, four joint exercises for military personnel of the CSTO member nations are expected to be conducted in Tajikistan this year.
The Chief of the CSTO Joint Headquarters, Colonel-General Anatoly Sidorov, told reporters in Moscow on February 25 that this is due to threats along the border with Afghanistan,
According to the Russian Central Military District, representatives of defense departments and the media of the CSTO member states took part in the video conference.
The conference was reportedly dedicated to the results of joint training of command and control bodies and formations of forces and means of the CSTO collective security system for 2020 and tasks for 2021.
The CSTO Joint Headquarters chief, in particular, assessed the military and political situation in the CSTO area of responsibility (Eastern European, Caucasian and Central Asian regions), spoke about the main results of activities in 2020 and the tasks of command and control bodies and formations of forces and means of the collective security in the year of the rotating chairmanship of Tajikistan in the Organization.
The general also spoke about what the four planned exercises in Tajikistan are connected with. According to him, the increased attention to this territory is associated with the accumulation of militants of terrorist organizations – Taliban and Islamic State (IS) — in Afghan territories bordering Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.
The SCTO military personnel will rehearse coordination and interaction in combat missions to prevent attempts by militants of international terrorist organizations to infiltrate in territories of the CSTO member nations, the general said.
Sidorov noted that the number of Taliban militants deployed in Afghan areas bordering Tajikistan and Turkmenistan is about 15,000 people, while a total number of Taliban militants is up to 70,000 people.
Four military exercises, namely an operational-strategic exercise dubbed “Combat Brotherhood-2021”, a special exercise for military reconnaissance units dubbed “Search-2021”, an exercise for logistics forces dubbed “Echelon-2021”, and an exercise for the CSTO rapid response forces dubbed “Interaction-2021”, will take place in Tajikistan this year.
Besides, the Organization will conduct a joint business game in 2021 under the leadership of the CSTO secretary-general.
Recall, the CSTO Secretary-General Stanislav Zas paid a working visit to Dushanbe recently. On February 18, he held talks with President Emomali Rahmon to discuss regional security issues.
The Chairman of the State Committee for National Security of Tajikistan (SCNS), Saimumin Yatimov, on February 14 met in Kabul with high-ranking Afghan state officials to discuss bilateral security cooperation, and the situation along the Afghan-Tajik border.
The regional security organization was initially formed in 1992 for a five-year period by the members of the CIS Collective Security Treaty (CST) — Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, which were joined by Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Belarus the following year. A 1994 treaty reaffirmed the desire of all participating states to abstain from the use or threat of force, and prevented signatories from joining any “other military alliances or other groups of states” directed against members states. The CST was then extended for another five-year term in April 1999, and was signed by the presidents of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan. In October 2002, the group was renamed as the CSTO. Uzbekistan that suspended its membership in 1999 returned to the CSTO again in 2006 after it came under international criticism for its brutal crackdown of antigovernment demonstrations in the eastern city of Andijon in May 2005. On June 28, 2012, Uzbekistan announced that it has suspended its membership of the CSTO, saying the organization ignores Uzbekistan and does not consider its views. The CSTO is currently an observer organization at the United Nations General Assembly.
