Russian Against Us Military Presence In Central Asia After Completion Of Afghan Operation

Director of the Russian Federal Frontier Service Konstantin Totsky has announced during a working visit to Dushanbe that Russia believes that a US military presence in Central Asia will not be needed, once the anti-terrorist campaign in Afghanistan has been completed. When talking about the situation of the Tajik-Afghan border, where Russian border-guards are stationed, Totsky said that the operation in Afghanistan had not brought about any serious changes on the border. The Russian representative said that there had been no mass flow of refugees. According to him, there were still many attempts to smuggle drugs out of Afghanistan being made and the main task of the Russian border-guards was to prevent their success.