The joint military exercises between Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan concluded today, Tuesday, near the Afghan border, which began last Thursday, in light of the rapid progress of the Taliban movement in several Afghan provinces, threatening to storm the capital, Kabul.
The commander of the Central Russian Military District said that the Russian forces that participated in the exercises used their experiences gained during the military intervention in Syria.
He pointed out that the exercises focused on preventing the danger of infiltration by what he described as "terrorists" into the countries of the Central Asian region, and strengthening joint measures in confronting any aggression against the countries of the region against the background of the escalation of tension in Afghanistan.
2500 soldiers, hundreds of armored vehicles and 25 aircraft participated in the exercises, and the participating Russian forces came from the military base in Tajikistan, which is Moscow's largest facility abroad.
The commander of the Russian Central Military District, Alexander Lapin, said that the weapons will remain at the base in Tajikistan.
New Russian weapons, flamethrowers and surface-to-air missiles were used in the exercises, at a distance of no more than 20 km from the border between Tajikistan and Afghanistan.
Moscow and its allies from the former Soviet states in Central Asia carried out two separate sets of military exercises close to the Afghan border in July, as Taliban fighters overran most of the northern provinces bordering Central Asia.
Tajikistan's Defense Minister Shirali Mirzo told reporters at the training ground that they are conducting these exercises, taking into account the developments in the situation in Afghanistan, adding that "the situation in Afghanistan is unpredictable."
"This situation requires caution and caution and that we remain in a state of combat readiness," said the Chief of the General Staff of the Uzbek Armed Forces, Shukrat Khalmukhamedov.
The Taliban movement has intensified its attacks in several axes and is rapidly advancing. Bloomberg quoted a Taliban spokesman as saying that the movement will storm Afghan cities, including Kabul, to overthrow the government if negotiations fail.
The spokesman added that the movement expects that there will be a political settlement before the war becomes more deadly.
The website quoted a spokesman for the Afghan presidency as saying that President Ashraf Ghani decided to arm the local population to fight the Taliban.
The Taliban now controls 6 of the capitals of the 34 Afghan provinces, while it controls 5 of the nine provincial capitals in the north, while fighting continues in the other four capitals.