Tajikistan seeks Russian assistance to guard its Afghan border

ALMATY: Tajikistan is in talks with Russia and a Moscow-led regional security grouping about the possibility of Russia deploying troops to jointly patrol the volatile border with Afghanistan, three Tajik security sources told Reuters on Tuesday.

Five Chinese citizens have been killed and five wounded near the border in the past week as a result of attacks launched from Afghanistan.

Tajik President Emomali Rahmon held talks with the heads of his security agencies on Monday about the situation and China has advised its citizens, who are engaged in various mining and business activities, to urgently leave the border area.

One of the three sources, in the Tajik Security Council, told Reuters that the authorities have held talks with Russia about the possibility of deploying forces from Moscow’s military base in the Central Asian country to jointly patrol the Tajik-Afghan border.

The base is Russia’s largest overseas military facility and is located close to the Tajik capital, Dushanbe.

“We are currently in talks. I think a decision will be made… this week,” the source told Reuters.

Two of the other sources, in Tajikistan’s State Committee for National Security, confirmed the talks with Russia, which if successful would see Russia use helicopters to help patrol the 1,344-kilometre (835 miles) border with Afghanistan, which runs through mountainous terrain.

The Tajik and Russian ministries of defence declined to comment when asked about the talks.

The Moscow-led Collective Security Treaty Organisation alliance, which the sources said was also involved in the talks, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Taliban authorities in Afghanistan have said they will cooperate with Tajikistan on security issues around the border.

Until the early 2000s, the Russian base, along with Russian border troops in Tajikistan, was tasked with guarding the Tajik border with Afghanistan. Tajikistan has been independently guarding the frontier since 2005.