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Afghan, Pakistan leaders discuss Central Asia security

Tajikistan Materials 30 July 2009 15:20 (UTC +04:00)

Afghanistan, Pakistan and Tajikistan agreed Thursday to coordinate efforts in their fight against Islamist violence which has threatened to spill over into the broader Central Asia region, Reuters reported.

Regional powers are concerned that an escalating war in Afghanistan could disturb a fragile peace in Central Asia, a vast ex-Soviet region lying on an important supply route for U.S. troops fighting in Afghanistan.

The presidents of the three Muslim nations, speaking after a summit in Tajikistan, emphasized security was a key issue but offered few details about what was discussed.

"We attached primary attention to common security issues," Tajikistan's Imomali Rakhmon said after talks with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai.

"The three states have expressed enthusiasm to cooperate in fighting against all threats and challenges like terrorism and all its manifestations: separatism, extremism and organized crime."

Highlighting Russia's aspirations for a greater role in Afghanistan, President Dmitry Medvedev is due to arrive in Tajikistan later in the day to meet the trio.

In a trend that has worried both Russia and the West, Central Asia has reported a string of clashes since May with armed gangs the authorities have described as Islamist rebels seeking to destabilize the region.

Security analysts believe some Taliban militants of Central Asia origin, who have been forced to regroup by intensified fighting in Afghanistan and Pakistan's tribal areas, may have begun to stream back into Central Asia.

Speaking alongside Rakhmon in his official residence outside the capital Dushanbe, Zardari and Karzai said they were ready to take steps toward more cooperation in the region which sits on a major conduit for Afghan heroin smuggling.

"We discussed a lot of issues on security and stability in Afghanistan and in the region," said Karzai.

"Afghanistan will be fully supporting and will make all necessary efforts and endeavors for the implementation of those issues we have discussed."

Officials say the recent attacks in Central Asia were orchestrated by the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, a Taliban-linked group headed by Takhir Yuldashev, Central Asia's most wanted man.

Human rights groups, however, suggest that governments in Central Asia, which is divided between five authoritarian nations, have largely exaggerated the problem and use it as an excuse to crack down on political dissent.

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