MOSCOW, February 14. /TASS/. The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) is seeing an increase in the number of Islamic State (IS, banned in Russia) militants near Tajikistan's southern border, CSTO Joint Staff Chief Andrey Serdyukov said at a briefing.
"The main threat to the stability in Central Asia comes from international terrorist and extremist organizations, namely the Islamic State and Al-Qaeda (both banned in Russia - TASS) and others," he said. "In particular, an increase in the number of [militants of] the Afghan Islamic State-Khorasan Province (banned in Russia - TASS) and the Pakistani Taliban movement (banned in Russia - TASS) is being recorded near Tajikistan’s southern border.
The network of field training camps for such groups is also expanding. Moreover, the main contingent of foreign fighters is concentrated in the northern provinces of Afghanistan.
Serdyukov added that the increase in migration flows due to "the ongoing confrontation between government troops and the opposition, and oppression of national and religious minorities, as well as the degradation of the economic situation and the aggravation of humanitarian difficulties" may be contributing to the deterioration in the situation. "Also, uncontrolled drug trafficking and illegal distribution of weapons are having a negative impact on the crime situation in the region," the CSTO chief of staff said.