CIS security chiefs set for talks on terrorism threat from Afghanistan

Heads of security and intelligence services from the member states of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) will gather for a session on Wednesday in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, to discuss global anti-terrorism measures, with a particular attention to be paid to the terrorism threat from Afghanistan, the press service of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) said, according to TASS.

“The session will focus on the issues of cooperation development between security and intelligence services of the CIS member states in the fight against the threat of terrorism posed by international terrorist organizations, which are active on the territory of Afghanistan,” the FSB press service said.

The session will in particular focus “on joint measures against the possible expansion of terrorism-related activities on the territory of the CIS member states after the complete withdrawal (from Afghanistan) of troops from the International Security Assistance Force in 2014.”

The US-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) have been fighting Taliban militants in the Central Asian state since 2001 and was scheduled to pull out from Afghanistan by the end of this year, passing the responsibility for the security provision in the country to local Afghani military and police forces.

Upon an initiative from Russia’s FSB, participants in the session will also discuss measures of providing security at transportation infrastructure facilities and their protection from possible terrorist attacks.