Developments in Afghanistan

16 Aug 2021, 14:05Updated at: 16 Aug 2021, 15:16

Kazakh defense ministry takes alertness enhancing measures amid situation in Afghanistan

According to the press service, Kazakh Defense Minister Nurlan Yermekbayev also set a task of monitoring and analyzing the situation in the region and organizing round-the-clock duties

NUR-SULTAN, August 16. /TASS/. Kazakhstan’s defense ministry has taken measures to enhance alertness, including in air defense, over the situation in Afghanistan, the ministry’s press service said on Monday.

"Following the escalation of the situation in Afghanistan, the armed forces have taken measures to enhance alertness. First of all, these measures covered units of the special operations forces, frontline and military transport aviation, air defense," it said.

According to the press service, Kazakh Defense Minister Nurlan Yermekbayev also set a task of monitoring and analyzing the situation in the region and organizing round-the-clock duties.

"It is necessary to monitor the emerging risks and decide the most important areas to channel key efforts to," the minister stressed.

US President Joe Biden said on April 14 he had decided to finish the operation in Afghanistan, the longest foreign military campaign in US history, and pull out American troops by September 11.

The US operation in Afghanistan has been ongoing since October 2001. At its peak in 2010-2013, the number of foreign troops in the country exceeded 150,000 soldiers. The main operational forces of the US and NATO were withdrawn from Afghanistan in 2014.

Since April, the security situation in Afghanistan has seriously degraded, with the Taliban movement (outlawed in Russia) having taken the capital city of Kabul and establishing control of nearly the entire territory of the country.

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