Islamic Emirate rejects Rahmon’s claim of insurgents’ presence

KABUL (Tolo News): Tajik President Emomali Rahmon during a meeting of the security council of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) held via videoconference said Tajikistan will establish a security belt along its border with Afghanistan to deter insurgents’ threats emanating from Afghan soil.
He said that according to Tajikistan’s special services estimates, over 40 camps and centers for training terrorists with over 6,000 militants were located in northeastern Afghanistan, which poses security threats to CSTO countries.
Bilal Karimi, deputy spokesman of the Islamic Emirate, rejected Rahmon’s remarks, saying there are no such camps in Afghanistan’s territory.
“There is no such training center in any part of the country in which insurgents are being trained. We assure all the world’s countries that there will be no threat from Afghanistan’s territory against them,” he said. Political analysts meanwhile said that fencing borders, and the possible creation of such a security belt around Afghanistan’s border, will create problems for the country and will limit trade and contacts between the countries.
“Fencing and securing Afghanistan’s borders will distance the two countries politically, economically and culturally and this will lead to many problems,” said Sayed Hakim Kamal, an international relations analyst. “After the Taliban took power in Afghanistan, the world countries have been worried about the presence of Daesh and insurgents in Afghanistan,” Aziz Maarej, a former diplomat said. Tajikistan and Russia previously voiced their concerns about possible threats from Afghanistan, but the Islamic Emirate repeatedly rejected the existence of such threats.