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Tajikistan to host large-scale military exercises in a month — Russia-led bloc

It was agreed to accelerate the adoption of the intergovernmental program proposed by Tajikistan within the framework of the CSTO to strengthen the Tajik-Afghan border

DUSHANBE, September 16. /TASS/. CSTO Secretary General Stanislav Zas announced that the large-scale military exercises for the organization's joint forces will be held in a month on the Tajik-Afghan border.

"The cooperative measures have been elaborated to ensure security in Tajikistan in case of an escalation of the border conflict. For the same purpose, a series of large-scale exercises of the CSTO’s collective forces will take place. There are the drills of the forces and means of intelligence ‘Search’, the logistics ‘Echelon’, our largest exercises this year called ‘Interaction’ along with the collective rapid reaction forces and ‘Cobalt’. The drills will all be held according to a single plan," Secretary General Stanislav Zas said on Thursday.

According to him, the CSTO closely monitors the situation on the Tajik-Afghan border. "The main goal of the organization is to ensure the security of the CSTO’s member states. That’s the reason why we still give priority to political and diplomatic means. The CSTO’s presidents have agreed to make further efforts to build cooperation in countering the challenges and threats from the territory of Afghanistan," the Secretary General added.

It was agreed to accelerate the adoption of the intergovernmental program proposed by Tajikistan within the framework of the CSTO to strengthen the Tajik-Afghan border. "As you know, Tajikistan has got the longest border with Afghanistan - 1,344 km, which passes in a hard-to-reach mountainous area," he concluded.

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