It’s clear the Kremlin has its doubts about the ability of US and NATO troops to contain Islamic militants in Afghanistan. Thus, it’s not surprising that Russian officials are expressing a desire to redeploy border forces along the Tajik-Afghan frontier. At the same time, it appears that Russia wants international back-up.
DUSHANBE -- Tajik and Russian border guards are discussing a new draft agreement on control of the Tajik-Afghan border, RFE/RL's Tajik Service reports.
KABUL -- Ahmad Saqib spends over three hours a day commuting between his rented house in the northern Afghan town of Jabal Saraj and the capital Kabul, where he works as an accountant.
"By the time I get home in the evening, I'm exhausted and have no energy to chat with my family," says the father of five. "I wish I had a place to live in Kabul, but it's beyond my means."
MOSCOW -- The presidents of Afghanistan and Russia have taken steps to resurrect economic and political ties that have been almost nonexistent since the fall of the Soviet Union.
NATO, not the European Union, initiated the idea of inviting Uzbekistan’s controversial leader, Islam Karimov, to visit Brussels, according to an aide to European Commission President José Manuel Barroso. Karimov is scheduled to meet with NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Barroso, EU Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger, as well as Belgian authorities, on January 24.
It may not be their preferred destination, but increasing numbers of Afghan refugees, seeking to escape the growing insecurity of their homeland, are making their way to Tajikistan. The former Soviet republic on Afghanistan’s northern border is seen as safer than Pakistan, less socially restrictive than Iran, and a more culturally familiar place, as many of the refugees speak a dialect of Tajik.
Despite its long-avowed status as a neutral nation, Turkmenistan is playing an important supporting role for US and NATO forces fighting in Afghanistan. Washington and Ashgabat are both keen to keep Turkmenistan’s strategic role low-key, especially the financial aspects of cooperation.
On the outskirts of Kabul, far from the dust, smoke and pollution kicked up by military convoys, impromptu Taliban assaults and the always-gridlocked traffic, 30 unlikely fellows share a sanatorium.
Expanding outward from the Afghan capital and sweeping north past the foreign military base at Bagram, Afghanistan’s Shomali Plain, a bustling and bountiful agricultural hub with one of the safest roads in the country, seems, at first glance, like a peaceful oasis in an otherwise war-ravaged country.
