CSTO CHIEF WARNS OF DETERIORATING SITUATION IN AFGHANISTAN

RIA Novosti
13:54 | 12/ 12/ 2008

MOSCOW, December 12 (RIA Novosti) – The current trend in Afghanistan
is that the situation is deteriorating, the head of the Collective
Security Treaty Organization said on Friday.

"The trend is for deterioration in the situation in Afghanistan,
Taliban militants have almost restored their units and systems of
rule, they control a significant part of the territory and all this
is taking place against the background of an unstable situation in
Pakistan," Nikolai Bordyuzha said.

Southern Afghanistan is the stronghold of the radical Taliban movement
which was ousted by the U.S.-led coalition from government in the
2001 campaign.

The Taliban have intensified attacks on Afghan and foreign troops
this year.

Bordyuzha said that efforts introduced by the antiterrorism coalition
forces in Afghanistan "unfortunately have not yielded the desired
results," adding that the CSTO is ready to continue cooperation with
NATO-led forces in the country.

The CSTO is a security grouping comprising the former Soviet republics
of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Uzbekistan,
and Tajikistan.

NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) has about 53,000
troops in Afghanistan under a UN mandate to help give security support
to the Afghan government and stop the flow of drugs from the country.

Despite the recent deterioration of relations with NATO, Russia
continues to support the military alliance’s operations in Afghanistan,
and has said it shares NATO’s concerns over the worsening security
situation in the country.