After the fall of the Soviet Union, Russia led a security blockade. On Monday, the biggest military drills in years began near the border between Tajikistan and Afghanistan. This happened during talks between the Taliban and major regional powers.
Other northern neighbors of Afghanistan have accepted the Taliban as the legitimate government and have started to work with Kabul. However, Tajikistan has refused to recognize the movement, and there have been reports of military buildups on both sides of the border.
The defense ministries of both Russia and Tajikistan said that the “Collective Security Treaty Organization” will hold exercises with more than 5,000 troops, with more than half of them being Russian.
This is the second set of small drills that Russia and its partners have held in Central Asia near the border with Afghanistan. The first set of drills took place in August and September.
Extremists could come into Russia from Afghanistan through the former Soviet countries of Central Asia, which Russia sees as a defensive fortress on its southern borders.
Tajikistan is a republic that used to be part of the Soviet Union. Russia has a military base there, and Dushanbe was told that Russia would help her if someone crossed the border into its land.
There are plans for a high-level Taliban team to visit Moscow this week for talks with China, Pakistan, India, and Iran. However, a senior Russian official said that the visit probably will not lead to any big changes.
Foreign ministers from Russia, the US, China, and Pakistan will meet separately in Moscow on Tuesday to come to an agreement on how to handle the new situation in Afghanistan. This was announced by Samir Kabulov, who is the agent of Russian President Vladimir Putin in Afghanistan.
