MOSCOW. Nov 22 (Interfax-AVN) - The situation in Afghanistan is a source of constant concern of member states of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), according to acting CSTO Secretary General Valery Semerikov.
The CSTO website quoted Semerikov's words said at the sixth annual meeting of secretaries of the security councils of CIS member states in Moscow on Thursday.
"Afghanistan with its domestic political instability and the incessant flow of drugs is a source of constant concern of the CSTO. This country has turned into a bridgehead for the remaining fighters of ISIL (a terrorist organization banned in Russia) crossing into post-Soviet states," Semerikov said.
"There is a real risk of the formation of a powerful extremist group on Afghanistan's borders with Tajikistan and Turkmenistan," he said.
Given those circumstances, "the CSTO is committed to the creation of a broad international coalition countering the threat of terrorism, and the development of dynamic cooperation in this area with the UN, the CIS, the SCO, and their relevant agencies, including the UN Counter-Terrorism Committee, the SCO Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure, and the CIS Anti-Terrorist Center," he said.
The global turmoil "sets as the primary objective the consolidation of efforts of international and regional agencies to provide collective and individual security of states," Semerikov said. "The achievement of this objective is crucial to the security, sovereignty, and territorial integrity of our states, and their ability to survive in the modern world," he concluded.