DUSHANBE: Collective Security Treaty Organisation Secretary-General Taalatbek Masadykov has visited Tajikistan and inspected sections of the Tajik-Afghan border as the Russia-led security bloc moves to strengthen one of its most sensitive external frontiers.
According to the CSTO press service, Masadykov travelled to Tajikistan at the personal invitation of President Emomali Rahmon. During the working visit, he assessed the security situation along the southern section of the organisation’s external border and visited several border outposts and a checkpoint operated by three Tajik border detachments deployed along the frontier with Afghanistan.
Masadykov also inspected the construction of a border road in the Shuroabad direction, in Tajikistan’s Shamsiddin-Shohin district of Khatlon province. The road passes through remote mountainous terrain and is designed to improve access to difficult border areas.
During the visit, the CSTO chief met Lieutenant-General Murodali Rajabzoda, First Deputy Chairman of Tajikistan’s State Committee for National Security and Commander of the Border Troops. The two discussed implementation of the CSTO Targeted Interstate Programme to strengthen the Tajik-Afghan border.
Strategic frontier
The approximately 1,350-kilometre Tajik-Afghan border is considered one of the most strategically important sections of the CSTO’s external frontier. The programme to modernise border infrastructure and enhance technical capabilities was approved by the CSTO Collective Security Council at its summit in Astana on November 28, 2024.
It entered the implementation phase in 2026 and is scheduled to be carried out in three stages through 2029.
The visit comes as CSTO officials acknowledge that the situation along the Afghan-Tajik border remains difficult. Viktor Vasilyev, head of the CSTO Permanent Council, recently described Afghanistan as the main challenge within the organisation’s Central Asian zone of responsibility.
He said efforts to engage the Taliban leadership in Kabul on containing terrorist activity in northern Afghanistan had not produced the desired results.
Security pressure rising
Over the past eight months, Tajik border areas have witnessed multiple attacks and incursions attributed to radical elements operating beyond Taliban control, as well as suspected drug trafficking groups. Some attacks targeted Chinese work crews involved in infrastructure and mining projects, leaving five people dead.
The CSTO said earlier this year it was sending arms to Tajik border guards. The latest visit signals that the organisation is seeking to reinforce its credibility and operational role in Central Asia at a time when instability along Afghanistan’s northern border remains a growing regional concern.
