Morning Star.png Afghan Chaos 'Could Spill Into Neighbours' Putin warns that CIS nations must be ready James Tweedie, The Morning Star, London, 17 October 2015 Russian President Vladimir Putin warned yesterday that the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan risks spilling over into neighbouring countries He told former Soviet nations at the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) summit in Kazakhstan that they must be ready to respond to cross-border incursions. "The situation is becoming critical. Terrorists of all flavours are gaining influence there and don't hide their plans to expand," he claimed. "One of their targets is central Asia. We have to be prepared to respond to this contingency." On Thursday US President Barack Obama announced that US troops would remain in Afghanistan into 2017 following a resurgence by the Taliban. Mr Putin added that Islamic State (Isis) forces in Syria and Iraq had recruited as many as 7,000 militants from CIS member states, who could pose a terrorist threat if they returned. "We certainly cannot allow them to use the experience they are getting in Syria on home soil," he said. The CIS regional bloc includes nine former Soviet republics as full members, with Turkmenistan and Ukraine holding associate status. New Offensives Mr Putin also praised the "impressive" results of the Russian air raids in Syria, as new Syrian army offensives were underway in Homs province and around the besieged northern city of Aleppo. Government troops backed by militia are attacking pockets of resistance in western Syria in the hope of freeing up personnel to push east on several fronts and take on Isis. The Kurdish YPG militia may also open up a new front with Isis along the Turkish border. Kartapolov Russian Air Force General Andrei Kartapolov said jets had flown 669 sorties since the start of the air campaign, including 394 this week. Gen Kartapolov also criticised the US-led coalition for bombing a power plant near Aleppo, leaving it without electricity and paralysing its water supply and sewage system. From: <http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-2933-Afghan-chaos-could-spill-into-nei ghbours#.ViHRSH4rK00> http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-2933-Afghan-chaos-could-spill-into-neig hbours#.ViHRSH4rK00 -- -- NEW!!!! SSN FORUM IS ON FACEBOOK!!!! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Swaziland Solidarity Network Forum Google Group. Visit the group home page at http://groups.google.com/group/sa-swaziland-solidarity-eom-forum for more options, pages and files. To post to the group, send email to sa-swaziland-solidarity-eom-forum@googlegroups.com or reply to this message. To unsubscribe, send email to sa-swaziland-solidarity-eom-forum-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Swaziland Solidarity Network Forum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to sa-swaziland-solidarity-eom-forum+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
