The CSTO will provide Tajikistan with all necessary assistance, which will be requested from its side in connection with the situation on the border with Afghanistan, the organization's spokesman Vladimir Zaynetdinov told RIA Novosti.
The spokesman of the CSTO, Vladimir Zaynetdinov, said, "If the CSTO contacts Tajikistan, it will provide all required assistance, provided by the Collective Security Treaty and the CSTO Charter: this can be political, military and military-technical assistance," he said.
"So far, Tajikistan has not applied to the CSTO in connection with the situation that has arisen on Afghan territory near the republic's border," Zaynetdinov said.
Earlier, the press center of the border guards of Tajikistan's State Committee for National Security told RIA Novosti that a Taliban attack on the Ukhchuk border crossing point in Kaldor district of Afghanistan's Balkh province resulted in 17 government troops retreating into Tajik territory.
An armed group of radical Taliban militants attacked the Sherkhan Bandar border commissariat in Afghanistan's Kunduz province on the border with Tajikistan on June 22. 134 Afghan government soldiers were unable to resist the militants and were forced to flee through the security zone of the third and fourth checkpoints of the Panj checkpoint, cross the state border and take refuge in Tajik territory. Tajik border guards, for humanitarian reasons, were forced to let a group of Afghan soldiers through, including one killed and four wounded. According to the State National Security Committee of Tajikistan, the total number of Afghan servicemen wounded, killed or taken prisoner by the Taliban at the Sherkhan Bandar border checkpoint is as high as 100.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Public Domain
Based on materials from RIA Novosti