Taliban’s Increased Strength Enhances Danger in Central Asia

May 16, 2019 (EIRNS)—Addressing a meeting of the directors of defense industries located in the Ural Federal District, Russia’s Commander of the Central Military District, Lt. Gen. Alexander Lapin said the Taliban’s terrorist activity in Afghanistan has risen by 30% in 2019 in comparison with the same period last year, TASS reported yesterday. This poses a threat to Central Asia, Lapin stated.

“On the Central Asian strategic direction, we are registering a persisting stable tendency of deteriorating military political situation, which can reach its crisis in 2020. The Taliban’s terrorist activity in Afghanistan has risen by 30% in comparison with the same period in 2018; the number of militants fighting for the Islamic State rose threefold in comparison with 2016,”

Lapin said.

“Completing the task of strategic containment, including by the Central Military District, we managed to prevent the escalation of the situation in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, as well as ensure the maintenance of the favorable information situation for the District’s troops in the territory of these states,”

Lapin stated.

Although the report from TASS made no mention of Turkmenistan, which shares a 744-km border with Afghanistan, reports from March indicate the Taliban have consolidated their presence in the Badghis province bordering Turkmenistan. It is clear that the Taliban are searching for new inroads into Central Asia, demonstrating their growing strength in Russia’s zone of strategic interests.