Tajikistan’s President Emomali Rahmon has again expressed concern over security threats posed by Afghanistan to the region and has called for a “security belt” to be built around the country.

Addressing delegates attending an International and Regional Border Security and Management Cooperation to Counter Terrorism conference on Tuesday in Dushanbe, Rahmon said “the transfer of terrorist fighters from the war-torn areas of the Middle East to other regions and the strengthening of the positions of international terrorist organizations in Afghanistan poses a serious threat to the Central Asian states.”

He said Tajikistan and Afghanistan share a 1,400 kilometer border that includes “complicated mountainous terrain”.

Rahmon said that over the past two years, Tajikistan has built and put into use more than 175 border facilities.

“It is worth mentioning that at the same time the construction of 30 other facilities is going on, and we need to build another 300 of this kind of facilities in the future.

“In this regard, urgent efforts would be important to implement the initiative of Tajikistan – the concept of [a] ‘Security Belt’ around Afghanistan in order to prevent and reduce the consequences of dangers and threats,” he said.

This comes just days after the Regional Anti-Terrorism Structure (RATS) of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) decided on joint measures by member countries to counter threats posed by international terrorist groups operating from Afghanistan.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the council of RATS that was hosted by India in New Delhi last week.

The meeting was attended by senior officials of all the member nations including China and Pakistan, India’s media reported.

However, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) has repeatedly reaffirmed its commitment to not allow terrorist groups to use Afghanistan soil to attack other countries.

The IEA has also stated that no terrorist organization is operating out of Afghanistan.

In addition, the IEA has on a number of occasions carried out operations to eliminate militant elements in the country, including Daesh members.