President agrees to improve border security

A potential worsening of the situation on the Tajik-Afghan border and measures which might improve border security were discussed by Tajik President Emomali Rakhmonov and a senior Director of the Russian Federal Border Services, ITAR-TASS reported on Monday. The presence of over 10,000 Afghan displaced on neutral islands of the Amu Darya River on the border, and a deterioration of the security situation had prompted the high-level meeting, the report said. The Russian General, Nikolay Reznichenko, said it had been agreed in principle that “if the need arises, more units will be formed rapidly from among the number of Tajik army servicemen and Russian officers,” it added.

According to UNHCR in Tajikistan, the Russian border services and local authorities had maintained cordial relations with relief agencies conducting assessments of people displaced by fighting between the Taliban and the opposition Northern Alliance over the border in Afghanistan. Humanitarian sources told IRIN last week that a small group of internally displaced Afghans who had approached the border had been sent back by the Russian border services.