CSTO to Help Tajikistan Reinforce Borders – Putin

The prospect of NATO withdrawal is concentrating the minds of Afghanistan's neighbors

CSTO to Help Tajikistan Reinforce Borders – Putin

http://en.rian.ru/military_news/20130924/183680109/CSTO-to-Help-Tajikistan-Reinforce-Borders---Putin.html

SOCHI, September 24 (RIA Novosti) – Members of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a military alliance of former Soviet states, will develop an interstate program to help Tajikistan strengthen its border with Afghanistan, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said.

“We will take into account all possible development scenarios, take preventive measures, and provide additional collective assistance to Tajikistan to reinforce its national border with Afghanistan,” Putin told journalists Monday after a CSTO Council meeting.

“We agreed to draft a targeted interstate program for equipping this section of the border,” he said, in line with a translation of his speech posted on the Kremlin website.

CSTO Secretary General Nikolai Bordyuzha said Monday CSTO members would provide Tajikistan with armaments and military hardware for free to help the country guard its border with Afghanistan.