MOSCOW, September 21 (AVN) - The committee of chiefs-of-staff of the Collective Security Treaty counties Armed Forces proposed to create joint rapid reaction forces under a unified command body in order to jointly oppose militant Wahhabism and terrorism and stabilise the situation in the turbulent regions of Central Asia, a source in the secretariat of the Collective Security Council (CSC) told the Military News Agency.
The core of the forces can be based upon the 201st Russian motorised rifle division stationed in Tajikistan.
CSC Secretary General Valery Nikolayenko has arrived in Tajikistan to officially voice the proposal. During his three-day visit he will meet Tajik President Emomali Rakhmonov. The two men will discuss further steps in bettering the systems of collective scurity, including the proposal upon the rapid reaction forces.
The next session of the CSC slated to meet in Bishkek on October 11 will discuss the question of creating the collective security forces, the source noted.
According to him, the seizure of a strategically important locality of Tulukan in northern Afghanistan by Talibans and their advance to Tajikistan borders poses serious threat for the whole Central-Asian region.
The Collective Security Treaty (signed on May 15, 1992) members are Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia and Tajikistan. Uzbekistan was present at the latest session as observer.