CSTO extraordinary session on situation in Afghanistan

Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko took part in an extraordinary session of the Collective Security Council of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) on the situation in Afghanistan. The event was held in the format of a video conference.

The CSTO leaders focused on the situation in Afghanistan and its impact on the security of the CSTO member states. The session was chaired by Tajikistan President Emomali Rahmon.

Taking part in the video summit apart from the Belarusian President were State Secretary of the Security Council Aleksandr Volfovich, Minister of Foreign Affairs Vladimir Makei and Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces - First Deputy Defense Minister Viktor Gulevich.

The event was held at the initiative of Russia. Participating in the summit, apart from the leaders of the CSTO member states, was also Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev.

Aleksandr Lukashenko reacted to the addresses of the leaders of the other CSTO countries and, first of all, of the Russian President, who spoke about the importance of solidarity and said that the problems arising from the situation in Afghanistan could affect everybody. “It has already affected us. We are far from those events, but we were the first side to feel the consequences. Probably, you have been informed (your security services have been definitely informed by us), Merkel promised you, the west promised that they will welcome everybody, that they will welcome all refugees from Afghanistan,” the Belarusian leader remarked.

In this context, Aleksandr Lukashenko spoke about the events of the past 2-3 days on the border with Poland. “You were right, several dozens or maybe hundreds (we cannot count them all) of Afghans – not Iraqis, not Syrians, but Afghans – (whom they promised to welcome in the west) moved to the west through Belarus. What did the Poles do? They caught (I cannot put it differently) about 50 people on the territory of Poland. Those people said they were travelling to Germany following the invitation of Mutter Merkel. Threatening them with weapons, shooting in the air, the Poles forces them to move to the border with Belarus. Of course, they were going to Germany, and they do not want to go to Belarus. This is how Poland caused a border conflict on the border, violating the state border of Belarus,” the President said.

“Those poor people crossed the border of Belarus and have been staying there for two or three days. Without water, without food, without shelter. It is not easy to stay there – the weather is 7-8 degrees above zero at night. Poor people. Now I need to think what to do with them,” the Belarusian head of state said.

“You have heard and seen many facts. At least, the whole world has seen that, but the west is quiet about how they force sick, pregnant, half-dead people to go back to the border with Belarus. These are their promises and politics. Therefore, as you have already said here, we cannot trust them. First of all, I mean the west. They have lost this war, they must acknowledge that, and they fled from the country like cowards. These are their problems. What do we have to do with it? Therefore, indeed, they are now laying this burden on our shoulders,” the Belarusian leader concluded.

The President remarked that the CSTO countries should adopt a common position on Afghanistan.

“I concur with the proposal to work out a common position. We need to discard all formalities and agree on the common position by the summit in Dushanbe [scheduled for mid-September. Let's be sincere: for the time being this position is like this ‘let's wait and see what happens next and then respond accordingly’. This is wrong. Of course, we will be watching what happens next. However, we need to clearly understand that given the information and the facts that we heard today, we need to develop a common position rather than issue all kinds of calls and statements. Otherwise, it will be too late to do something to rectify the situation,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

The President stated that Belarus was not as deeply immersed in the Afghan events as Tajikistan or Russia. "We did not ban anyone, including the Taliban, did not support anyone as we were not so much involved in the Afghan events. But I remember what Tajikistan President Emomali Rahmon repeatedly said at the CSTO meetings. He always reminded us that Afghanistan was a dangerous place on the map and cited specific facts," the head of state noted.

Aleksandr Lukashenko added that the leader of Tajikistan was right. “We need to react to the unfolding situation. We need to produce a careful response, as we do not know how events will develop further. Let us just admit that we are a bit late on Tajikistan's (read: CSTO’s) border with Afghanistan. We need to make up for the lost time,” the President stressed.

The head of state assured that although Belarus is not geographically close to and does not border on Afghanistan, the country will follow the agreed common position within the CSTO. “There is no other way out. Under no circumstances should we try to stay aside just because we are far away. We are not far away. Our planet is small and cramped, and the world has gone mad. No one knows what will happen next. President Putin is right. It is better to stand in solidarity and act together. Then our voice will be heard,” the Belarusian leader said.

It is with great concern and great attention that Belarus has been watching the developments in Afghanistan, Aleksandr Lukashenko said. The President stressed that the situation should be assessed in a dispassionate manner, as realistically and adequately as possible. "At first glance what is happening is a huge failure of Western policy. This is true, this is a failure of the United States, above all. This is an unequivocal example of what the thoughtless imposition of their so-called principles of democracy by force may lead to.  The United States and its allies, as they often do, acted in disregard of the historical, ethno-cultural, religious identity of the state and, most importantly, the interests of the people. Confirmation of it is the chaos at the Kabul airport,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

 “It could be said that the coalition led by Washington screwed up after 20 years of occupation and investing enormous resources. Let us assume that this is not entirely true. We cannot ignore the possibility of strategic calculation of a completely conscious move by the United States to create instability in the region, and partly in the CSTO area of responsibility. They have created problems. Now they are passing the buck to others and are trying to get away with it. Americans love acting like this,” the head of state said.

The President added that Belarus may not assess the situation in Afghanistan as sharply as Tajikistan, so it is important for Belarus to hear the opinions and assessments of its CSTO allies. “For our part, we see the main questions which we need to answer together: what will happen next, what the situation on the external borders of the CSTO is, what priority steps we have to take to neutralize the emerging threats. We have to define these steps by mid-September, by our next meeting in Dushanbe,” said Aleksandr Lukashenko.

“There is another sensitive issue connected with the United States’ withdrawal [from Afghanistan]. I am talking about possible plans to deploy armed contingents of the American army in neighboring countries, including CSTO member states,” Aleksandr Lukashenko noted.

The President believes the matter should be thoroughly examined from the point of view of security in the Collective Security Treaty Organization’s responsibility area. Russia also shares Belarus’ concerns. Russia believes that the deployment of U.S. forces in the CSTO’s responsibility area is unacceptable.

“I absolutely support the President of Russia, his statements that flights of U.S. combat aircraft primarily above CSTO countries are unacceptable. Not only for Russia. For all of us as CSTO members. Moreover, I absolutely agree with his statement that NATO’s movement (they have gone too far, it is understandable they are moving to Russia via Belarus), an attempt to settle down in Central Asia are also unacceptable for the Russian Federation and for us,” The Belarusian leader continued.

Aleksandr Lukashenko returned to the problem of refugees and migrants. In his words, there are different estimates of the possible number of refugees and migrants in the first wave. “It is absolutely clear that people from Afghanistan will join the waves of migrants from destroyed Syria, Iraq, Libya. Even if their final destination is in the west, they will travel through our countries,” the Belarusian leader said.

In his opinion, it is necessary to further reinforce the Tajikistan-Afghanistan border. “Terrorism is directly connected to the risks of transboundary crimes, illegal turnover of narcotics and weapons, which seemingly will grow. The President of Tajikistan mentioned it. Taking into account the certain transparency of borders between our countries, this matter is also seriously concerning for us. In this context it is necessary to pay attention to practical measures meant to further reinforce the Tajikistan-Afghanistan border. It is what we should do without fault as the top priority,” he said.

Aleksandr Lukashenko believes it is advisable to stage off-schedule interstate operations Kanal (fight against drugs trafficking) and Nelegal (counteraction of illegal migration) within the framework of the Collective Security Treaty Organization. “We’ve done it in the past and very effectively. The practice has been accumulated,” the President said.

During the forthcoming Collective Security Treaty Organization exercises Vzaimodeistviye 2021 [Interaction], Poisk 2021 [Search], Eshelon 2021 [Echelon], which are scheduled to take place in Tajikistan on 18-23 October, it will be necessary to practice the counteraction of current threats from the direction of Afghanistan. “We are not going to blackmail Afghanistan, the current authorities, the Talibs. No, we are simply building defenses of our CSTO borders just in case,” Aleksandr Lukashenko noted.

The Belarusian leader believes that the CSTO needs to determine a clear position in case of the possible recognition of Taliban in a number of countries. “Against the backdrop of the diplomatic efforts of Taliban to establish relations with key global and regional players, a number of countries are inclined to recognize the movement. For our organization it is important to clearly realize to what extent such prospects are real and to determine our position in this case,” the Belarusian leader said.

“In this regard we hope that the Russian President will timely inform us about his position, as he usually does. Russia is not only one of the key players here. It is the main player, and a lot will depend on Russia. In the union, of course, with the republics of Central Asia,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

The instruments of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), one of Asia’s most influential organizations, should be used to address the Afghanistan issue, the President said at the extraordinary session of the CSTO. “Almost all SCO members are located around Afghanistan. Their global interests lie there, at least, those of China, Russia, India and Pakistan. “It is necessary to strengthen interaction between the CSTO and the SCO by means of the summits of the two organizations due in Dushanbe on 16-17 September this year,” the head of state said.

He believes that after a thorough analysis of this issue, it will be possible to hold a joint meeting to discuss the political settlement of the Afghan conflict: “If the SCO members want to discuss the issue today, it will be good. If not, we will just voice our position. And then the ball will be on their court. I think we will be able to make very serious progress here.”

“It will be impossible not to reckon with the position of the CSTO and the SCO. The position of the SCO/CSTO will even be more important than the position of the Western coalition,” the Belarusian leader is sure.

At the end of his speech, Aleksandr Lukashenko emphasized that despite all the shortcomings in the CSTO, the organization has developed all the necessary plans and signed documents, and therefore there are enough tools for making and implementing decisions. “We will have three more weeks to work them out in the run-up to the Dushanbe summit,” the head of state added.