CSTO prepares for worst-case scenario in Afghanistan

Moscow: The CSTO is discussing contingency plan to deal with the post-2014 scenario in Afghanistan after international coalition force pull out of the country. A draft document compiled by the CSTO Secretariat provides a forecast on the situation in Afghanistan for 2013-2014 and identifies the need for specific measures to respond to a worst-case scenario, Nikolai Bordyuzha, CSTO Secretary General, said during a session of the CSTO Foreign Ministers Council`s working group on Afghanistan.

"It is important to get an answer to the question how stable the current authorities in Kabul are, and whether it will be able to control the situation in the country after 2014," he said yesterday. "Trust between the Afghans and the international coalition force is dwindling. This is seen in the ever more frequent cases of attacks and acts of terrorism against the military," the CSTO Secretary-General said. "It is important for us to understand what the chances of the Taliban are to take power in Afghanistan again and what is to be done, if that happens", Bordyuzha said. "The forecast of relations between Afghanistan and its near neighbours, including Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, as well as Pakistan, is very important to us. "It is expedient to evaluate the potential of subversive and terrorist activities in Afghan territory and the possibility of its proliferation to the borders of CSTO states," he said. The documents worked out at a meeting of the working group for Afghanistan will be considered at a session of the CSTO (Collective Security Treaty Organization) Collective Security Council on December 19. On December 3, there will be consultations on the basis of the Russian Foreign Ministry over the transit of forces and cargoes to Afghanistan and out of that country to Western Europe. The CSTO is comprised of Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. PTI/Itar-Tass