Situation in Afghanistan continues to deteriorate - CSTO secretary general

MOSCOW, April 13. /TASS/. The situation in Afghanistan is rapidly deteriorating, the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) Secretary General Nikolay Bordyuzha said on Monday. The Taliban continues to operate in the country, and Islamic State (IS) militants appear in the volatile region, Bordyuzha said. "The situation in Afghanistan continues to deteriorate. The activities of the Taliban does not subside. There are problems with the combat capability of the Afghan army and security services. Representatives of IS appear in Afghanistan, including citizens of CSTO countries," he added. The US has recently halted troops withdrawal from Afghanistan, leaving around 10,000 servicemen there until the end of 2015. The decision on pulling out American troops from Afghanistan will not be reviewed, Bordyuzha said. "Representatives of the alliance [NATO] and US will stay, bases will stay, though some of them were handed over to the Afghans, but US servicemen stay there. I don’t think the situation will return to the way it was," he noted. Problems in Afghanistan should be solved by Afghans themselves, Bordyuzha stressed. "We can only render assistance. We should not try to impose our rules, our vision of democracy there, like the Americans are doing. There is a president there, a prime minister, a parliament - they should try to reach national accord and sustainable development," he noted. CSTO is closely following the developments in Afghanistan, Bordyuzha said. "We have a list of political and military measures which we will take if some militant groups try to break through from Afghanistan," the CSTO secretary general noted. Earlier, the Russian Defense Ministry said Russia was strengthening its military bases in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan because of concerns over the situation on CSTO southern borders. Read more