— Tajik ambassador says socio-economic initiatives offer the only way forward in order to combat terrorism
ISLAMABAD: Muslim world needs to focus its utmost attention to countering terrorism, preventing violent extremism and radicalisation by strengthening regional cooperation and taking necessary steps to counter the challenges of terrorism and extremism, said Ambassador of Tajikistan to Pakistan HE Sherali Jononov in a briefing here on Wednesday where he talked about the outcomes International High-Level Conference ‘Countering Terrorism and Preventing Violent Extremism’ held in Dushanbe on May 04, 2018.
The government of the Republic of Tajikistan in close collaboration with the UN, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the European Union and a number of partner countries convened and issued a joint declaration pointing out the root causes of extremism and how to rid the world of terrorism and radicalisation.
Shedding light on the current international and regional situation, trends of contemporary security issues, the President of Tajikistan, Emomali Rahmon in his keynote speech called for coordinated efforts in combating security threats in order to maintain peace and stability.
During the Dushanbe Conference participants discussed priorities for interaction in the field of international and regional security, addressed the issues related to the status and perspectives of cooperation between the countries and international organisations, underlined the importance of consolidation and acceleration of our efforts to counter security threats, particularly terrorism, extremism and radicalism.
Conference participants drew attention to the need to extend legal base for further development of counter-terrorism cooperation, strengthening efforts in identification and preemption of cross-border terrorist activity, acceleration of collaboration in the fight against cybercrime and capacity-building of the countries.
The inseparable link between regional security and the situation in Afghanistan was stressed. In this connection, the participants of the conference expressed their interest to further develop cooperation across the spectrum of issues pertaining to strengthening security in Afghanistan.
“The history and harrowing experience of many countries, including Tajikistan witnessed that only cooperation and joint actions will make it possible to win in the fight against evil forces and global threats. However, sadly so far the International community has not unanimous position on definitions of terrorism and extremism,” the ambassador stressed.
It is pertinent to mention here that after the anti-terrorist operations in Syria and Iraq members of individual extremist and terrorist groups came to Afghanistan and transformed this country into the field of international terrorism war. The participants showed serious concerns with the expansion of operations of the terrorist and radicalised groups such as the ISIS, Al-Qaeda, Taliban and other unions in addition to the illicit drug smuggling in this country, including in its areas bordering with Tajikistan.
The briefing was attended by ambassadors of Russia along with other high officials from diplomatic core and media personnel.