Nervous neighbours get Russian help
Russian and Tajik troops have conducted joint drills as part of efforts to prepare for possible security threats issuing from Afghanistan.
The exercises yesterday at the Momirak firing range, about 20 kilometres north of Tajikistan’s border with Afghanistan, involved armoured vehicles and helicopter gunships.
They were part of week-long war games that brought together about 5000 troops and over 700 armoured vehicles from Russia, Tajikistan and several other ex-Soviet nations, which are members of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation, a Moscowdominated security pact.
Tajik Defence Minister Sherali Mirzo said the drills were held amid the ‘‘catastrophic changes after the withdrawal of the international coalition’’ from Afghanistan.
‘‘Terrorist groups operating in Afghanistan ... have obtained many modern weapons, significantly improved their positions and using the current situation to create conditions for its transformation into a foothold for further destructive actions in the region.’’
Russian officials said they trusted the Taliban’s pledge that the Islamists wouldn’t threaten neighbouring countries, but noted that Islamic State, al Qaeda and other militants in northern Afghanistan could try to destabilise neighbouring ex-Soviet Central Asian nations. They also said drug trafficking from Afghanistan would continue to present a challenge.
Moscow has vowed to provide military assistance to its ex-Soviet allies in
Central Asia to help counter possible threats. It has held joint drills in Uzbekistan, which also borders Afghanistan, and has a military base in Tajikistan, its largest military outpost in the former Soviet Union.
Fighting between the Taliban and Isis in northern Afghanistan has raised fears of Isis fighters and other militants flowing into Central Asian nations.
The Soviet Union fought a 10-year war in Afghanistan that ended in 1989. In recent years, Russia has made a strong diplomatic comeback as an influential power broker on Afghanistan,
hosting several rounds of talks with various Afghan factions.
Russia worked for years to establish contacts with the Taliban, even though it designated the group a terror organisation in 2003 and has never taken it off the list. Unlike many other countries, it hasn’t evacuated its embassy in Kabul since the Taliban took over the Afghan capital in August.
This week, Russia another round of talks that involved the Taliban, along with senior diplomats from China, Pakistan, Iran, India, and the former Soviet nations in Central Asia.