The Taliban movement (outlawed in Russia) has set up checkpoints in the occupied areas of the state border between Afghanistan and Tajikistan, Chief of the CSTO Joint Staff Colonel-General Anatoly Sidorov said in an interview with RT on Thursday.
"Today we saw that the Talibs had set up roadblocks on that side. At least currently, there is no aggression at all from the side of the northern provinces of Afghanistan. Moreover, they set up observation posts, roadblocks, guard posts. <…> Visually, the situation is rather peaceful on that side," he said.
There are no refugees currently on the Tajik-Afghan border, but the situation may change, Anatoly Sidorov said.
"I would like to stress that at this point, there is no need to deploy humanitarian aid centers, temporary accommodation centers for refugees and so on. Because so far, there are no refugees," he said.
However, the situation may change in the future, Sidorov pointed out. "Because we cannot be 100% certain right now what will happen next. So we need to be ready to deploy these centers, these temporary accommodation points, and in order to do this, we need to make sure that they are fully equipped, that they have the necessary management and personnel," he said.
According to the official, with these preparations, humanitarian centers can be deployed in the regions within mere hours or days.
"In such moments, we need to provide aid to the Republic of Tajikistan. They are feeling very confident when it comes to everything else. They keep their borders under lock and key," he stated.
On July 5, the press center of Tajikistan’s border service reported that after the clashes with Taliban supporters, over 1,000 Afghan troops retreated to the territory of the republic. In the past two weeks, there have been several cases of Afghan troops retreating to Tajik territory. The press center noted that the Afghan troops were allowed to enter Tajikistan due to the principle of good neighborliness and non-interference in Afghanistan’s domestic affairs.
