Putin urges caution on Afghanistan at CIS security meet
July 10, 2014, 5:03 pm

Putin at a meeting with heads of security and intelligence services of CIS states on 10th July, 2014 at the Kremlin, Moscow [PPIO]

“We all know and keep saying that this (withdrawal of troops) will not make the situation in Afghanistan any better or calmer, and we should be prepared for any turn of events, although we will, of course, proceed from the best. We will proceed from the idea that the situation will be controlled by the official authorities and we will do everything to assist in this,” Putin told the Heads of CIS Security and Intelligence Services in Moscow.

Around half of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) is due to pull out of Afghanistan by the end of 2014.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said in late June that Russian armed forces have been training for possible reactions toward future events in the violence-torn country.

Putin said all CIS countries are facing common challenges and that united efforts are needed during these “troubled times”.

He said the CIS should work together to ensure state security and internal stability, combat drug trafficking, illegal migration and terrorism, as well as other threats.

Russia, Putin said, will continue “to train employees for the special services and security forces” of the CIS.

The CIS, founded in 1991, groups all 15 former Soviet republics except Georgia and the three Baltic states – Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.

Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan are members of the CIS.

Meanwhile, a Russia-led military alliance, the Collective Security Treaty Organization, was created among CIS member states of Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.

 TBP and Agencies