DUSHANBE, July 28, Asia-Plus -- Safarali Sayfulloyev, First Deputy Chairman of the Committee for Protection of the State Border of Tajikistan, told a news conference in Dushanbe on July 28 that only close cooperation between border troops and population of border areas might make fight against trespassers efficient.  

The Tajik border official admitted that the border with Afghanistan contains a number of “black holes” that trespassers can exploit.  According to Safarali Sayfulloyev, some stretches of the Tajik-Afghan border in the Shuroobod district cannot be guarded properly because of complicate mountain relief.  “We have changed tactics of fight against trespassers,” said Tajik border top official, “Special mobile units have been set up, which are seeking trespassers rather than waiting for them on this or that stretch of the border.”  

Mr. Sayfulloyev noted that for the purpose of strengthening the Shuroobod stretch of the Tajik-Afghan border expanding further cooperation with Afghan border troops they intended jointly with Afghan border guards to reconnoiter border areas of Tajikistan and Afghanistan .  “For this purpose Afghan border troops should detach one battalion numbering 300 servicemen,” Mr. Sayfulloyev concluded. 

We will recall that officials from the Tajik Committee for Protection of the State Border of Tajikistan and Afghanistan ’s Interior Ministry signed a protocol in Dushanbe on September 29 last year to strengthen their cooperation in guarding the border between the two countries.