Inaugurating the International High-Level Conference on “International and Regional Border Security and Management Cooperation to Counter Terrorism and Prevent the Movement of Terrorists” in Dushanbe, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon noted on August 18 that it is obvious that over the years, the range of threats and challenges arising from terrorism and extremism has been steadily expanding. This destructive phenomenon causes terrible consequences, and the activities of terrorist and extremist organizations and groups are increasingly gaining transboundary and transnational nature.
“Moreover, the rapid spread of the infectious disease of COVID-19 over the past two years and its consequences have made the process of countering these threats even more difficult, disrupted the process of the 2030 Agenda implementation and achieving its sustainable development goals in various regions of the world,” Rahmon said.
According to him, terrorist groups are expanding their extremist activities, recruiting more young people to their ranks, encouraging and committing terrorist attacks, including using information and communication technologies.
He further noted that without understanding the real goals of extremist and terrorist organizations and groups, some mass media provide platforms or other opportunities to them for expressing the views of their leaders.
“It is also worth noting that today, extremist and terrorist organizations and groups are extensively using advanced information technologies in the pursuit of their nefarious goals, and this issue should be the matter of serious attention and actions by the experts and the persons in charge,” Tajik leader said, noting that according to analysis and forecasts, such a situation will continue in the region and some countries of the world in the future, and the presence and activities of ISIS and Al-Qaeda will expand.
He pointed to the necessity of developing new innovative approaches to the joint counteraction to terrorism and the spread of the ideology of extremism and religious radicalism, including the use of modern technologies.
“As part of the implementation of the National Strategy of Tajikistan on Countering Terrorism and Extremism for 2016-2020, the Government of the country, among other significant achievements, has also improved its mechanism for preventing extremism and strengthened the role of education and civil society,” said Rahmon. “A special secretariat has been created for the successful implementation of this strategy, and there is a Platform for cooperation between public implementing institutions and the international and civil society organizations.”
The specific actions undertaken by the Government of Tajikistan reportedly resulted in returning more than 400 citizens of our country, mainly women and children from Syria and Iraq, as well as more than 5000 Tajik students from foreign religious education institutions with a view to avoiding their accession to terrorist and extremist groups.
“Currently, we are continuing effective actions to rehabilitate them, and we feel the cooperation of development partners in this process,” Rahmon noted.
Tajik leader also noted that as long as all international actors do not define terrorism and extremism specifically and apply uniform approaches to combating them, it will be practically impossible to ensure the coordination of efforts of countries in the fight
