MOSCOW, June 24. /TASS/. The leaders of international terrorism wish to use Afghanistan as a base for infiltrations into neighboring countries and creating a wide jihadist underground network there, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said on Friday.

"The leaders of international terrorists consider Afghan territory as a base for infiltrating neighboring countries and creating an extensive jihadist underground network, manned by militants from trouble spots," he said at a meeting of the defense ministers of Russia and Central Asian states.

Shoigu stressed that the ideology of religious radicalism, drug trafficking and cross-border crime was spreading in the region. It is necessary to strengthen coordination among the law enforcement agencies of Central Asian states and Russia to counter terrorist organizations in the region and formulate common approaches to combating them, he believes.

Shoigu expressed the hope that the dialogue of trust among the countries that had developed over many years would contribute to the development and improvement of such cooperation.

Taking part in the meeting were also defense ministers from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan: Ruslan Zhaksylykov, Baktybek Bekbolotov, Sherali Mirzo and Bakhodir Kurbanov. It was the first ever such meeting.