CSTO Chief Says Fat Chance Afghanistan Crisis Can Be Settled Soon

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 01st July, 2021) The situation in Afghanistan and neighboring Central Asian areas is unlikely to be resolved anytime soon, Secretary General of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), Stanislav Zas, said on Thursday, addressing the Council of the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly in Dushanbe.

Terrorism and drug trafficking remain an acute problem in the Central Asian region, which incorporates half of CSTO member states. Therefore, the processes going on in Afghanistan affect CSTO collective security, so the organization is closely watching the situation, according to Zas.

"The probability of an early settlement of the situation in Afghanistan and its neighborhood remains low.

One of the main questions is in what direction the developments will move there after the withdrawal of US and NATO troops whether official Kabul and the Taliban movement will manage to agree on the restoration of peace and stability in the country and not let the Islamic State [terrorist organization, banned in Russia] and other extremist groups strengthen their positions," the CSTO chief said.

Zas noted that the strengthening of the Tajik-Afghan frontiers, in accordance with the CSTO intergovernmental program, takes on exceptional importance now.

CSTO members are Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan.