Russia’s plays up the Afghan threat in Central Asia

On 13 May 2015 the Collective Rapid Reaction Forces of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) launched exercises in Tajikistan. Over two days approximately 1,500 troops were sent to Tajikistan from Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, among other countries (2,500 soldiers in total participated in the exercise to test the capacity to rapidly dispatch CSTO troops).

Turkmenistan, in turn, is militarising its border with Afghanistan – additional military forces are being pulled in from other regions of the country, local inhabitants are being conscripted under the pretext of military exercises, reinforcements and fire positions are being constructed around strategic objects. In Tajikistan foreign tourists were forbidden to enter the Gorno-Badakhshan region bordering Afghanistan.