Tajikistan beefs up security on border with Afghanistan

KABUL (Pajhwok): Tajikistan President Emomali Rahmon has ordered the Defense Ministry to beef up the border with Afghanistan, a media reported said on Tuesday.

He directed the ministry to mobilise 20,000 army reservists for the reinforcement of the border with Afghanistan, where fighting has escalated in recent weeks.

AKIpress reported that Rahmon asked members of the Security Council and heads of defense and law enforcement agencies to initiate concrete steps to secure the Tajikistan-Afghanistan border.

At a meeting with his Uzbek and Kazakh counterparts, Rahmon raised concerns over the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan.

The three leaders underlined the importance of cooperation on strengthening borders of Central Asian countries with Afghanistan to foil threats.

A day earlier, 1,000 Afghan National Army personnel fled to Tajikistan as Taliban fighters closed in on border crossings between the two countries.

PAN Monitor/mud