CSTO member countries concerned over terrorism threat to Central Asia from Afghanistan

The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) has expressed concern about what they claim is growing threats in provinces in northern Afghanistan that border Central Asian countries.

Natalia Kharitonova, press secretary of the CSTO secretariat, told Russia’s Izvestia news outlet that the territory of Afghanistan remains a source of challenges related to terrorism, extremism, and drug crimes.

According to her, Tajikistan is ready to begin the first stage of the CSTO program to strengthen the Tajik-Afghan border.

However, she stated that the removal of the Islamic Emirate from Russia’s list of terrorist organizations may encourage Kabul to work more closely with neighboring countries to combat terrorism.

Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan make up the CSTO, with Tajikistan playing a key role in ensuring security in the area.

The CSTO program to strengthen the Tajik-Afghan border was first adopted by the CSTO in 2024. There are three phases.

The first phase involves Tajikistan, as the coordinator of the program, assessing the capabilities of the Member Countries in the production of weapons and technical means for border protection.

Once this is completed, CSTO members will select funding sources and finalize contracts. Deliveries are already planned for 2026-2027, the CSTO confirmed.

However, Omar Nessar, a researcher at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, told Izvestia that the task of actually securing the border will probably be Russia’s responsibility as it has a large military base in Tajikistan.

On April 11, the Secretary General of the organization, Imangali Tasmagambetov, met in Dushanbe with the President of Tajikistan, Emomali Rahmon, and other officials, including the Minister of Defense of Tajikistan and the Secretary of the Security Council.

This, and other recent visits, demonstrate the Tajik side’s willingness to implement the first and all subsequent phases of the program, Kharitonova told Izvestia.

She went on to say that the organization has detected groups of militants operating from inside Afghanistan, along the Tajik border.

According to her, these are international militant groups such as Jundallah, the East Turkestan Islamic Movement and ISIS (Daesh).

Izvestia reported that the situation has become a lot more complicated since the change in power in Syria as several hundred militants from Central Asia were released from Syrian prisons. Hundreds made their way to the Afghan border area with Tajikistan, she said.

However, Omar Nessar believes that the situation on the border is stable at the moment, but that it could change.

Nessar suggested that a move towards recognizing the Islamic Emirate could be seen as an incentive for the ruling government to work more closely with neighboring countries to combat terrorism.

The Islamic Emirate has however repeatedly stated that no foreign militant groups, or Daesh, operate out of Afghanistan. The IEA has said it will not allow any individual or group to threaten another country from Afghanistan soil.