DUSHANBE, 23.08.2021 (NIAT Khovar) – President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon chaired an extraordinary meeting of the Collective Security Council of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation via videoconference.

The session was attended by President of Tajikistan, Chairman of the CSTO Collective Security Council Emomali Rahmon, Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, President of Kyrgyzstan Sadyr Japarov, President of Russia Vladimir Putin and CSTO Secretary General Stanislav Zas.

President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev took part in the session as an invited guest.

The meeting participants exchanged views the situation in Afghanistan and its impact on the security of the CSTO member states.

Member-state leaders of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) noted with concern the worsened situation in Afghanistan.

The summit’s participants highlighted the importance of restoring the state’s authority in Afghanistan through inclusive peaceful dialogue taking into account the interests of all civil, political, ethnic and religious groups, and noted that the political regime in Afghanistan should be based on the free expression of the will of the entire Afghan people.

Given the increasing presence of combatants from international terrorist organizations in Afghanistan who use this country as a fallback site to create strongholds for the further activity and their expansion, the CSTO member states have agreed to ramp up efforts to foster cooperation in order to counteract the challenges and threats emanating from the territory of Afghanistan

The CSTO’s member-state leaders also agreed to accelerate work on approving an Interstate Targeted Program for Strengthening the Tajik-Afghan Border sections, proposed by Tajikistan within the framework of the CSTO.

The members of the Collective Security Council agreed to continue the exchange of views on the situation in Afghanistan during the upcoming CSTO summit on September 16 in Dushanbe.