Tajik officials closely watching situation on Qonduz section of border.

DUSHANBE, September 7 (Itar-Tass) - So-called Qonduz incident that
occurred on the night from last Thursday to Friday in Afghanistan's
province of Qonduz, where a U.S. combat jet delivered a strike at two
gas-tank trucks, has not affected in any way the security on the border
between Tajikistan and Afghanistan and all the border posts continue
working as scheduled, a high rank source at Tajiki security services told
Itar-Tass Monday.
Along with it, the source said that "border guards are watching
closely the situation at the Qonduz section of the Panj River stretch of
the border, since an air strike carried out by NATO forces occurred so
close to Tajikistan's territory."
He indicated that the distance separating the Lower Panj border
crossing station and the place of the Qonduz incident is less than 80
kilometers and a possible deterioration of the situation in that area
cannot help bothering the Tajikistani government.
The source believes it is highly unlikely that Taliban may have any
serious forces in Afghanistan's northern provinces that have been
traditionally controlled by field commanders opposing the Talebs since the
times of the regional ruler Ahmad Shah Masud.
"Most probably, NATO gas-tank trucks underwent an attack by a bandit
grouping, as such groupings are a traditional legacy in all the countries
with dragged-out civil wars," the source said.
The two trucks that carried fuel for the international antiterrorist
coalition forces were hijacked by Taliban militants, the official version
of the events suggests.
Itar-Tass own sources said the trucks had crossed the River Panj into
Afghanistan by a bridge, the construction of which had been financed by
the U.S. Administration for the purpose of maintaining supplies to
coalition forces.
U.S. does transits of non-commercial cargoes to Afghanistan via the
Tajikistani territory in line with an agreement that the two countries
signed in spring 2009.
-0-kle