Two-day conference on security of Afghan borders opens in Dushanbe

DUSHANBE, September 15 (Itar-Tass) - A two-day international
conference opening in the Tajik capital on Thursday will discuss border
security in Northern Afghanistan and ways of increasing interaction and
coordination between the border and customs services of Afghanistan,
Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
The gathering has been organized by the EU-funded Border Management
Project in Northern Afghanistan.
"The discussion's main aim is to develop the potential and strengthen
coordination and interaction between the governments of the Islamic
Republic of Afghanistan, the Republic of Uzbekistan and the Republic of
Tajikistan in the management of border and customs procedures," the
project's representative Erkin Tadzhibayev told Itar-Tass.
The conference will be attended by the heads of international
organizations accredited in Tajikistan as well as senior representatives
and the heads of the EU mission and international organizations in
Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Tajik Prime Minister Akil Akilov is expected to participate in the
conference.
A source at the project's office in Tajikistan noted that the European
Union had allocated ten million U.S dollars for strengthening the border
in Northern Afghanistan.
Tajikistan has the longest border with Afghanistan. It stretches for
1,300 kilometres. Since the start of 2011, Tajik border guards have
thwarted 12 armed attempts by Afghan drug smugglers to cross into
Tajikistan. Ten drug smugglers died in skirmishes.
In the first 8 months of 2011, Tajik border guards and security
services have seized about two tons of drugs. Several heroin-producing
laboratories in northern Afghan border provinces have been destroyed in
cooperation with Afghan security services.