The chief of staff of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) has warned that numerous international extremist and terrorist groups are operating in Afghanistan, posing a risk of instability across the region.
Andrey Serdyukov, chief of the CSTO Joint Staff, said at a press conference on Thursday that the presence and activities of such groups in Afghanistan threaten regional security and could lead to the spread of terrorism to neighbouring countries.
He described the situation as a serious concern for Central Asian states.
At the same time, Sergei Shoigu, secretary of Russia’s Security Council, described the Tajikistan-Afghanistan border as a key security hotspot for CSTO member states.
Expressing concern about rising threats along the organisation’s western and southern borders, Shoigu said the southern frontier, particularly developments linked to Afghanistan, remains a central focus of the bloc’s security agenda. He added that the situation along the Tajikistan-Afghanistan border is among the organisation’s top security priorities.
The remarks come after reports of 17 armed clashes along the Tajikistan-Afghanistan border last year.
