DUSHANBE. July 3 (Interfax-AVN) - Tajik Foreign Minister Hamrokhon Zarifi has suggested using NATO's potential in Afghanistan to protect its border with Tajikistan, which serves as a transit route for some of Afghanistan's opiate exports, the Tajik Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.
"Minister Zarifi underscored Tajikistan's further interest in cooperation with NATO to restore stability in Afghanistan. He proposed considering the possibility of using NATO's potential to improve border and customs infrastructure at segments of the border with Afghanistan and to train personnel in the aforementioned areas," the ministry said.
The Tajik minister visited the alliance's headquarters in Brussels on Monday.
A unit of French engineers of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was deployed at Dushanbe Airport in autumn 2001, when the anti-terrorist operation in Afghanistan was launched, to provide technical support to the NATO contingent in Afghanistan. Tajikistan also allowed NATO member-countries' airplanes en route from Afghanistan to use its airspace.
Plans are also being discussed to use the NATO Trust Fund to finance mine-clearing efforts in Tajikistan's border districts.
Tajikistan is a member of the NATO Partnership for Peace program.