Russia to deploy troops on Afghanistan-Tajikistan border
Friday May 17, 2013
Russia is considering to deploy troops on Tajikistan-Afghanistan borders in a bid to reduce the threats of narcotics and terrorism reach Russia through former Soviet Central Asian countries.
The decision by Russia comes amid growing concerns by Moscow that the instability could grow after NATO combat troops leave the country by the end of 2014.
B]Russian ambassador to Afghanistan, Andrey Avetisyan in an interview with the Reuters news agency said, “We prefer to tackle this problem on the Afghan border to stop these threats.”
[“We used to have a serious presence on the Afghan-Tajik border and, at that time, the situation there was much better, so it would be in the interest of both Russia and Tajikistan and even Afghanistan if Russia is present there,” he said.[/B]
Without elaborating further regarding the exact number of troops to be deployed on Tajik-Afghan border, the Russian envoy said such a presence would involve Russian border troops, however he said any agreement on border troop deployment would “of course” have to be agreed upon with Tajikistan.
Russian border guards used to patrol Tajik frontier with Afghanistan but left in 2005.
Russia to deploy troops on Afghanistan-Tajikistan border - Khaama Press (KP) | Afghan Online Newspaper
Friday May 17, 2013
Russia is considering to deploy troops on Tajikistan-Afghanistan borders in a bid to reduce the threats of narcotics and terrorism reach Russia through former Soviet Central Asian countries.
The decision by Russia comes amid growing concerns by Moscow that the instability could grow after NATO combat troops leave the country by the end of 2014.
B]Russian ambassador to Afghanistan, Andrey Avetisyan in an interview with the Reuters news agency said, “We prefer to tackle this problem on the Afghan border to stop these threats.”
[“We used to have a serious presence on the Afghan-Tajik border and, at that time, the situation there was much better, so it would be in the interest of both Russia and Tajikistan and even Afghanistan if Russia is present there,” he said.[/B]
Without elaborating further regarding the exact number of troops to be deployed on Tajik-Afghan border, the Russian envoy said such a presence would involve Russian border troops, however he said any agreement on border troop deployment would “of course” have to be agreed upon with Tajikistan.
Russian border guards used to patrol Tajik frontier with Afghanistan but left in 2005.
Russia to deploy troops on Afghanistan-Tajikistan border - Khaama Press (KP) | Afghan Online Newspaper