Minsk. August 29. INTERFAX-WEST-The fears of citizens of the CSTO member states about the possible sending of soldiers to Afghanistan are groundless, CSTO Secretary General Stanislav Zas said on the air of the STV TV channel on Sunday.
"Won't Afghanistan become a trap, won't we have to send our sons there again? Of course not. These are absolutely groundless fears. The CSTO is an exclusively defensive military-political organization. And the Collective Security Treaty, the Charter of our organization provides for the use of collective defensive forces exclusively within the CSTO area of responsibility, that is, within the borders of our countries," Zas said.
He noted that at the last extraordinary session of the Collective Security Council, the situation in Afghanistan was discussed and a set of measures to minimize threats was developed.
"We have developed a set of measures to minimize these threats: countering drug trafficking, terrorism, illegal migration. But it is clear that the situation there is changing now and it should be carefully studied and taken into account in our activities, including in terms of combating these threats, which have not gone away, and partly even on the contrary - they have become more relevant," Zas said.
Earlier, Zas reported that preparations have begun for the exercises of the CSTO Collective Forces, which will be held near the Tajik-Afghan border in the coming months.
