Anatoly Sidorov, head of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) Joint Staff, said that hundreds of ISIS fighters have been transferred to northern Afghanistan.
Sidorov stated that the fighters have been deployed in Jawzjan, Kunduz, Takhar, and Badakhshan provinces.
He said that the purpose of the ISIS fighters’ deployment is to wage terrorist attacks, adding that the situation in Afghanistan is tense and threatens Central Asia.
According to Sidorov, who addressed a press conference on Thursday, the presence of terrorist groups, including ISIS in northern Afghanistan, coupled with poverty, unemployment, economic crisis, and hunger in the country will lead to increasing instability in Central Asia.
Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan are members of the Collective Security Treaty Organization.
In the past year, these countries held several military exercises on the borders of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan near Afghanistan.