Afghan counter-terror drive should be backed up by economic and social measures - Tajik minister
DUSHANBE. Nov 22 (Interfax) - A number of major infrastructural projects should be launched in Central Asia with the aim of promoting general development, easing social tensions in neighboring Afghanistan and maintaining security across the region, Tajikistan's acting Foreign Minister Hamrokhon Zarifi said.
Zarifi spoke at a ministerial meeting of the European Union and Central Asia in Brussels.
"The counterterrorism operation in Afghanistan ought to be supported by economic, social, educational and cultural measures," the Tajik minister said.
The Tajik authorities earlier came up with an initiative to establish a center in Dushanbe where personnel for different Afghan agencies would be trained, he said.
"I call on European partners to actively contribute to the CASA-1000 project to build electricity transmission lines, a project to construct a railroad that will cross Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Turkmenistan, as well as projects to build hydroelectric power plants, which will help resolve socioeconomic problems facing the region and improve the well-being of the region's population," Zarifi said.
Following Emomali Rahmon's inauguration as president of Tajikistan on November 16, the country's entire government resigned, but continued to fulfill its duties pending the formation of a new government.
"On the whole, the participants in the meeting agreed that the issue of regional security in Central Asia is inseparably connected with the situation in Afghanistan, and that the Afghan issue cannot be resolved by military methods," the Tajik Foreign Ministry said in a press release.
The CASA-1000 project is intended to build high-voltage transmission lines from Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to Afghanistan and Pakistan. The practical implementation of this $1-billion program is expected to begin in the summer of 2014 with the help of international financial institutions.
Tajikistan shares the longest border (1,344 kilometers) with Afghanistan among other CIS states.
Some analysts fear that security along the border and in the entire region may deteriorate following NATO forces' withdrawal from Afghanistan next year.
