AFP, Moscow :
Russia has deployed hundreds of troops for drills in Central Asia with its ex-Soviet allies in a show of force as anxiety grows over a surge in fighting in neighbouring Afghanistan.
Around 2,500 personnel from the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) are taking part in joint exercises due to run to Wednesday in Tajikistan. The move is seen as re-enforcing Moscow’s role as the main guarantor of the fragile region’s security after US troops leave Afghanistan.
The Russian deployment of about 500 troops for the drills started last week, bolstered by soldiers from Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Armenia and Belarus.
Tajikistan is in a strategic spot, bordering Afghanistan’s Kunduz province where over 200 people have died and 10,000 been displaced by a militant offensive.
Russia’s foreign ministry says it is “particularly concerned” by the violence, which Afghan local authorities claim has seen the Taliban link up with jihadists from the Islamic State group battling in Syria and Iraq.
The uptick in Afghan fighting has rattled Moscow’s ex-Soviet allies in Central Asia, and some have looked towards Russia for reassurance.
Tajikistan hosts a Russian military base and has called for Moscow to step up its military assistance to the country.
It is the only CSTO member of the three Central Asian states bordering Afghanistan, which also include Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.
The Kremlin and its partners in Central Asia have been accused in the past of exaggerating a post-Washington ‘spillover’ effect in the region.
But some experts argue states such as Tajikistan and Turkmenistan would be unable to contain a hypothetical breakout of fighting in Afghanistan’s fractious northern provinces without significant outside help.
“The armed forces of many of these states are critically weak with thoroughly corrupted command structures,” Vasily Kashin, an expert at the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies in Moscow, told AFP.
“One moderate incursion could be devastating. Russia would have no choice other than swift military intervention.”
Tajikistan on Friday said it had stopped issuing foreigners travel permits for a remote region along the Afghan frontier, citing heavy fighting on the other side of the border.
Russia has deployed hundreds of troops for drills in Central Asia with its ex-Soviet allies in a show of force as anxiety grows over a surge in fighting in neighbouring Afghanistan.
Around 2,500 personnel from the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) are taking part in joint exercises due to run to Wednesday in Tajikistan. The move is seen as re-enforcing Moscow’s role as the main guarantor of the fragile region’s security after US troops leave Afghanistan.
The Russian deployment of about 500 troops for the drills started last week, bolstered by soldiers from Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Armenia and Belarus.
Tajikistan is in a strategic spot, bordering Afghanistan’s Kunduz province where over 200 people have died and 10,000 been displaced by a militant offensive.
Russia’s foreign ministry says it is “particularly concerned” by the violence, which Afghan local authorities claim has seen the Taliban link up with jihadists from the Islamic State group battling in Syria and Iraq.
The uptick in Afghan fighting has rattled Moscow’s ex-Soviet allies in Central Asia, and some have looked towards Russia for reassurance.
Tajikistan hosts a Russian military base and has called for Moscow to step up its military assistance to the country.
It is the only CSTO member of the three Central Asian states bordering Afghanistan, which also include Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.
The Kremlin and its partners in Central Asia have been accused in the past of exaggerating a post-Washington ‘spillover’ effect in the region.
But some experts argue states such as Tajikistan and Turkmenistan would be unable to contain a hypothetical breakout of fighting in Afghanistan’s fractious northern provinces without significant outside help.
“The armed forces of many of these states are critically weak with thoroughly corrupted command structures,” Vasily Kashin, an expert at the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies in Moscow, told AFP.
“One moderate incursion could be devastating. Russia would have no choice other than swift military intervention.”
Tajikistan on Friday said it had stopped issuing foreigners travel permits for a remote region along the Afghan frontier, citing heavy fighting on the other side of the border.
