MOSCOW: Russia said on Wednesday it was beefing up the combat capabilities of its military base in Tajikistan and training local soldiers, as Moscow warned that fighters of the militant Islamic State group were moving into neighbouring Afghanistan.

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, who was in Tajikistan on Wednesday for talks, said the security situation had rapidly deteriorated in Afghanistan amid a US troop withdrawal.

That withdrawal has prompted Moscow to prepare for a potentially major security challenge on the edge of its Muslim-majority Central Asian backyard.

In particular, Moscow has expressed alarm over what it has described as the growing strength of IS elements in northern Afghanistan.

Shoigu said that IS fighters were moving into Afghanistan from Syria, Libya and several other countries.

“What’s more, in some parts, we can also see that these movements are quite seriously organised,” Shoigu was quoted as saying by the RIA news agency.

Calling the US troop exit “hasty”, Shoigu said that Moscow was training Tajik military personnel at Russian military universities and facilities affiliated with the military base it operates in Tajikistan.

“We provide everything needed for military training,” Shoigu was quoted as saying.

“We are paying increased attention to strengthening the combat capabilities of our base and refining plans to jointly repel possible insurgent infiltration,” he said.

A senior Russian diplomat has said that Moscow views Taliban gains in northern Afghanistan as having a security upside because the group is hostile to what Russia regards as more dangerous Islamist extremists.

Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan will hold joint military drills next week near Tajikistan’s border with Afghanistan, where the Taliban has made huge military gains and claims to control 90 percent of the country’s borders.

Published in Dawn, July 29th , 2021