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Tajikistan asks UN to help enhance security on Afghan border

DUSHANBE, March 04. /ITAR-TASS/. The international community should increase its financial help to Tajikistan, which is struggling to reinforce its border with Afghanistan, where the situation is likely to become worse after NATO pulls out its armed forces from the country later this year, the deputy head of Tajikistan’s national security committee, Major-General Mansurdzhon Umarov told an international conference on border enforcement and cross-border cooperation between the two neighboring countries on Tuesday.

“Tajikistan foresees risks the situation on the border will deteriorate, regarding the growing flow of drugs from Afghanistan in particular,” Umarov said. He quoted some UN Security Council statistics for the last three years: during these years the national security forces and border guards conducted 180 special operations and, as a result, managed to seize more than 3.5 tonnes of drugs and 120 firearms items. The official added that 36 smugglers had been liquidated in 38 armed clashes with border forces. He recalled that in 2010 a national border enforcement strategy was approved; since that date new frontier stations have been built and the border troops were provided with modern equipment.

However, Umarov believes that for more effective border security his country still needs international help despite the increased financing of Tajikistan border troops.

The heads of Afghanistan law enforcement, as well as representatives from foreign countries’ embassies, Russia among them, and several international organizations, accredited in Tajikistan, are taking part in a two-day conference, which opened on Tuesday.

The secretary-general of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, Nikolai Bordyuzha, has repeatedly warned the international community of a possible deterioration of the situation on the Tajik-Afghan border, which may occur after NATO troops leave Afghanistan. He stressed that there were certain alarming signs, such as the concentration of extremist forces near the Tajik border. He added that clashes between border guards and smugglers had become more frequent.

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