Russian President Vladimir Putin will take part in an extraordinary session of the Collective Security Council of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) on Monday, the Kremlin press service reported.
The session will be held via videoconference under the chairmanship of Tajik President Emomali Rahmon. The decision to hold it was made against the backdrop of recent events in Afghanistan. "It is planned to discuss issues of ensuring the security of member states in the context of the events in Afghanistan, as well as an effective joint response to possible cross-border challenges and threats," the Kremlin said in a statement.
As Putin said the day before during a meeting with representatives of United Russia, it is planned to discuss, among other things, the issue of accepting refugees from Afghanistan. "Our, say, Western partners are persistently raising the issue of placing refugees in Central Asian countries before they receive visas from the United States or other countries. So they can send them to these countries without visas, to our neighbors, but they don't want to take them to them without visas? What kind of humiliating approach to this question is this?," said the President.
About the situation in Afghanistan
The situation in Afghanistan became aggravated when in April the US president announced about the decision to finish the operation in Afghanistan. After that, the Taliban fighters (the movement is banned in the Russian Federation) increased the tempo of attack and on August 15, they established full control over Kabul without a fight within a few hours. President Ashraf Ghani resigned as head of state and left the country.
In addition, the situation on the border between Afghanistan and Tajikistan worsened in late June. After an armed clash with the Taliban a group of servicemen of the Afghan army withdrew and, with the permission of Tajik border guards, crossed the common border of the two countries. Similar incidents have repeatedly occurred. At the same time, Mohammad Sohail Shaheen, an official spokesman for the Qatari Taliban political office, stated that the radical movement has no plans to attack the Afghan-Tajik border.
Putin discussed the situation in Afghanistan with Rahmon three times by telephone in July and August. According to the press service of the Tajik president, during the last such conversation on August 18, the two leaders "called for further coordination of bilateral and multilateral efforts to strengthen protection of the Tajik-Afghan border and comprehensively facilitate the peaceful settlement of the Afghan problem."
CSTO Secretary-General Stanislav Zas also spoke of the organization's readiness to take "all necessary collective measures" if Tajikistan's security is threatened. Afghanistan itself needs continuous foreign support from regional countries and international and regional organizations to prevent the spread of terrorism and drug trafficking, he said.
The CSTO is an international security organization that currently has six members: Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. The Collective Security Treaty was signed in Tashkent in 1992.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: official website of the President of the Russian Federation
Based on materials from TASS