Dushanbe backs creation of national unity govt in Afghanistan - Rahmon
DUSHANBE. Sept 12 (Interfax) - Security across Central and Southern Asia require peace and stability in the neighboring Afghanistan whose attempts to create a national unity government are being backed in Dushanbe, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon said on Friday.
"Given the current situation in Afghanistan, provision of security, national and tribal unity and creation on that basis of a national unity government are playing an important role for the long-suffering people of Afghanistan, as well as for the entire region," Rahmon said at a meeting with his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai who has arrived in Dushanbe as a guest attending the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).
Afghanistan has held two rounds of the presidential election but the winner has yet to be named. All this creates tensions both within Afghan society and with its closest neighbors.
At their meeting the two leaders "expressed confidence in further continuation of the rich experience in effective cooperation between Tajikistan and Afghanistan, including in the sphere of maintaining safety and stability on the joint national border, countering arms and drug smuggling and preventing the spread of terrorism and extremism," according to Rahmon's press office.
The Tajik president also stressed the need to increase the role of the joint commission for coordinating the efforts of Tajik and Afghan law enforcement and border agencies.
Among the CIS countries bordering Afghanistan Tajikistan shares the longest border at 1,344 kilometers. Tonnes of Afghan drugs are seized both in Tajikistan and on its border each year.
