ALMATY. May 23 (Interfax) - The sending of four Kazakh servicemen to Afghanistan may cause an outbreak of activity of extremist organizations in Central Asia, political expert Dosym Satpayev told Interfax on Monday.
"The problem is that extremist and terrorist organizations operating in Central Asia may use the Taliban appeal as a pretext for perpetrating a terror act on the territory of Kazakhstan," he said.
Uzbekistan's Union of Islamic Jihad, which "in contrast to the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, calls for fighting not only the Uzbek administration, but also all the other regimes in Central Asia," may become active, he said.
The suicide bomber attack in Aktobe, the administrative center of the Aktyubinsk region, shows that "Kazakhstan is within a high danger zone." "Any threats should be taken seriously," the expert said.
He disagreed with the opinion of several deputies of the Kazakh parliament, who overlooked the Taliban threats to Kazakhstan.
"I think they are mistaken. It is not the question of Kazakh servicemen who are being sent [to Afghanistan], but it is the question of Astana's support of the West in the fight against the Taliban in Afghanistan and Al-Qaeda in Iraq," he said.
"It would be useful to build up security of strategic sites in Kazakhstan," he said.
The foreign media said that the Taliban had warned Kazakhstan about "serious consequences" that the sending of a Kazakh military contingent to the Afghanistan might have.
The lower house of the Kazakh parliament approved last week the ratification of the Kazakh-NATO agreement on Kazakhstan's participation in the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan.
In keeping with the terms of this agreement, Kazakhstan will assign its servicemen to the ISAF.