Tajikistan will remain dependent on Russia for the protection of its borders

Tajikistan needs to strengthen its border security with Afghanistan, so its dependence on Russia will increase.

From February 27 to March 1, 2024, another session of the CSTO took place in Moscow, where Tajikistan presided. A working group of representatives from the relevant ministries and agencies of the CSTO member states (Collective Security Treaty Organization) discussed the refinement of the draft Target Interstate Program of the CSTO for strengthening the Tajik-Afghan border.

As a result of the meeting, the draft Program was refined and sent for consideration to the CSTO Permanent Council for a decision. The CSTO Permanent Council consists of authorized representatives from the member states of the organization: Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. Armenia suspended its membership in the organization from February of this year.

According to the statement by the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Tajikistan, Sirojiddin Muhriddin, this Program was expected to be agreed upon in 2023, but for technical reasons, it was postponed to early 2024. At the end of June 2023, the Council of Foreign Ministers of the CSTO member states adopted a joint statement on the situation in Afghanistan, where they expressed the organization’s readiness to assist in combating threats to regional security.

Meanwhile, on March 2, 2024, the head of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sergey Lavrov, at a press conference following the Diplomatic Forum in Turkey, stated that “they regret that the Armenian leadership has made a consistent decision to pursue a line of worsening relations with the Russian Federation.”