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DUSHANBE, November 10, 2010, Asia-Plus  -- Director of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) Nikolai Bortnikov has called Afghanistan “an incubator for terrorist threats, where terrorist structures are being trained, recruiting accomplices and disseminating ideas of terrorism and extremism to the territories of other countries.”

He remarked this yesterday at a briefing in Dushanbe that took place on conclusion of the 29th meeting of the Council of Heads of Security Agencies and Special Services of CIS Nations.

Bortnikov noted that CIS security services closely monitor developments in neighboring Afghanistan and the ideology of radical Islamic groups and terrorist organizations and their potential to undermine security across the CIS.

The CIS nations face common threats and challenges emanating from the territory of Afghanistan and countering these common-to-all threats requires strengthening of coordination of efforts of the CIS security agencies, the FSB chief stressed.  The CIS security agencies must combine efforts in countering, for example, the drug threat, because drug trafficking is one the main financial sources of terrorism, he said, noting that they also must expand cooperation in providing defense and border security.

Bortnikov noted that the meeting participants had drawn up a number of decisions aimed at strengthening coordination activities of special services within the post-Soviet area.  “The main component is getting preemptive information about possible organization of terrorist activity within the CIS area,” said the FSB chief, “We pay a special attention to discussion of ideology of terrorism and extremism.”

An important aspect is specialization in organization of operational activity, in particular the issue of countering the ideology of terrorism, Bortnikov said.   “It is necessary to understand processes of radicalization of the population, recruitment of youth to a terrorist organization,” said he, “It is necessary to know much about radical Islamic groups.”