BISHKEK (TCA) — President of Kyrgyzstan Sooronbai Jeenbekov has warned about a threat of increasing expansion of Islamic State ideology in Central Asian countries, Russia’s TASS news agency reported.
“The ideology of Islamic State and other such radical groups is increasingly spreading in Central Asia, with active propaganda and recruiting of citizens of our states. I think it will be impossible to ensure collective security, reliable protection of state borders and withstand the present-day challenges and threats without efficient cooperation between the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) in the sphere of border security,” he said at an informal meeting of the CIS leaders in Moscow on December 26.
Speaking at the meeting, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon said ensuring security on the southern borders of the CIS (the border with Afghanistan) will be among priorities of Tajikistan’s chairmanship of the CIS in 2018, Rahmon’s press service reported.
In the meantime, Russian President Vladimir Putin on December 25 said that the situation in Afghanistan would be worse without the presence of US troops in the country, TASS reported.
“Indeed, it [the situation with terrorist threat in Afghanistan] has worsened, it is true, it keeps deteriorating,” Putin told a meeting with the Russian parliamentary leadership.
“But if the US were not there, it would probably be worse,” the president said.
He said that Taliban militants are stationed practically along the whole border between Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
