USE OF FORCE IN IRAN WOULD THREATEN CENTRAL ASIA – CSTO
RIA Novosti
17:01|01/ 03/ 2007
DUSHANBE, March 1 (RIA Novosti) – A possible military operation
against Iran would jeopardize the security of the Central Asian states,
the head of a post-Soviet security group said Thursday.
Iran has been at the center of international concerns since January
2006 over its nuclear program, which some countries, particularly the
United States, suspect is geared toward nuclear weapons development.
Reports in the Western media say the U.S. could start a war against
Iran at any moment.
"Air strikes on Iran will not stop its nuclear program," Nikolai
Bordyuzha, general secretary of the Collective Security Treaty
Organization, told a news conference after a meeting with Tajik
President Emomali Rakhmonov.
Russia, a key economic partner of Iran, has consistently supported
the Islamic Republic’s right to nuclear power under the Nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), and has resisted the imposition of
harsh sanctions.
Russia is building a nuclear power plant in Bushehr in southern Iran,
a project worth $1 billion, on a contract signed in 1995.
Bordyuzha said the situation in Afghanistan also threatens the Central
Asian countries, adding that NATO has shown no interest in cooperating
with the CSTO in the country.
Afghanistan has regained its position as the world’s top drug producer
since U.S.-led forces toppled the Taliban in 2001. Illegal drug
production and trade is the only source of income for many in the
war-torn southwest Asian nation, and is a major source of financing
for Islamist militants.
CSTO members – Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia,
Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan – use the organization as a platform for
fighting drug trafficking, terrorism, and organized crime, and have
pledged to provide immediate military assistance to each other in
the event of an attack. The bloc has a Collective Rapid Reaction
Force deployed in Central Asia, and is continuing to build up its
military forces.
Two CSTO members, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, share borders with
Afghanistan and are major trafficking routes for drug smugglers from
the country. Heroin and other drugs from Afghanistan have also flooded
Russia and other ex-Soviet states since the 1990s.