There is threat of militant penetration into Central Asia from Afghanistan - former Afghan president

ASTANA, April 21. /TASS/. There is a risk of penetration of terrorists from Afghanistan into Central Asia, former Afghan President Hamid Karzai said on Thursday during the XIII Eurasian Media Forum. "There is a shift in the militants’ terrorist activities towards Afghanistan’s northern provinces on the way to the Fergana Valley to our Central Asian neighbors. If this trend continues, the threat is there," Karzai said. Kazakhstan’s Ambassador to Afghanistan Omirtai Bitimov earlier said that "intensification of insurgent activities is currently observed" in northern Afghanistan. He noted that "the appearance of gunmen of the Islamic State terrorist group (IS, outlawed in Russia - TASS)" was registered. According to him, they became more active in Badashkhan, Faryab, Kunduz, Takhar and some other northern provinces. For his part, Kazakhstan’s deputy chief of the General Staff Ruslan Alimov noted that the situation in Afghanistan posed a threat to security in the region. "Increased terrorist activity in Afghanistan may become a major source of instability in Central Asia in the medium term, as well as in the CSTO collective security regions," he said at a conference in Astana. Taking part in the forum, a non-political and non-profit organization, whose aim is to openly discuss pressing issues of the East and the West, are about 300 speakers and more than 400 delegates from 50 countries. These are prominent economists, politicians, journalists and public figures. Read more