Tolatbek Musadikov, Deputy Secretary-General of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), has warned that threats emanating from Afghanistan have not yet been eliminated. He said that instability in the country continues to endanger the borders of CSTO member states.
Speaking on Wednesday at the Third Eurasian Security International Conference in Minsk, Musadikov said large-scale and potentially escalating conflicts were unfolding near the CSTO’s area of responsibility, including Afghanistan, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe.
“The situation in Afghanistan remains tense, and its challenges and threats have not yet been resolved,” he said, as quoted by Russia’s state news agency TASS.
Musadikov also noted that Western countries, in pursuit of geopolitical interests, are employing “complex forms of warfare” and new technologies, including artificial intelligence, to manipulate information and spread “fake and provocative content.”
The CSTO, a Moscow-led military alliance that includes Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan, has repeatedly expressed concern about security risks emanating from Afghanistan, particularly the presence of extremist groups such as ISIS and radical Central Asian groups.
CSTO member states, especially Tajikistan, have voiced alarm over the possibility of militant infiltration and instability spilling across their borders since the Taliban takeover in 2021.
