Afghan fighting prompts Russia border troops alert

September 25, 2000
Web posted at: 7:21 PM HKT (1121 GMT)

DUSHANBE, Tajikistan (Reuters) -- Russian forces guarding the border between Afghanistan and Tajikistan have stepped up security because of intensifying fighting across the frontier in Afghanistan, a spokesman for the border guards said on Monday.

"Fighting is now going on just two or three kilometers from the Tajik-Afghan frontier," he said, adding that the Taleban movement, which controls most of Afghanistan, had been able to go right up to the border in places.

Russia deploys thousands of troops to defend the border in Tajikistan, a poor former Soviet republic which has been weakened by a civil war from 1992 to 1997 and is in no position to guard the volatile frontier unaided.

The spokesman said because of the fighting, the border guards had switched to a higher security regime and moved artillery into position, and also closed frontier crossing points in two places.

The Taleban said its troops had taken one of the crossing points, the river port of Shir Khan Bandar, last week.

While the Taleban controls much of Afghanistan, the United Nations still recognizes the legitimacy of ousted President Burhannudin Rabbani, and clashes between forces loyal to him and the Taleban have increased in recent days.

On Friday four artillery rounds fired from Afghan territory impacted in Tajikistan, but no injuries or damage were reported.

The head of Russian border guards in Tajikistan, Sergei Zhilkin, said on Saturday he did not expect the Taleban to threaten the border itself, although he said refugees and anti-Taleban coalition forces could build up in the border area.

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