DUSHANBE, Oct 18 Reuters - A Russia-led post-Soviet security bloc began its largest military drills near the Afghanistan border in years in 2014 amid cross-border tensions ahead of talks between Tajik and Afghan's new Taliban leaders and major regional powers.
Unlike Afghanistan's other northern neighbours who have de facto recognised the Taliban leadership and developed working relationships with Kabul, Tajikistan has refused to recognize the Islamist movement and there are reports of troop build-ups on both sides of the border.
The exercise carried out by the Collective Security Treaty Organisation CSTO will involve more than 5,000 servicemen, more than half of them Russian soldiers, Russia and Tajikistan defence ministries said.
The six-day drills follow a series of smaller-scale exercises held by Russia in August and September in the vicinity of the Central Asian border to Afghanistan and its Afghan allies in August and September.
Russia is concerned about the possibility of Islamic militants infiltrating former Soviet republics of Central Asia, which Moscow sees as its defensive buffer.
Moscow operates a military base in the former Soviet republic and has assured Dushanbe that it would help it in the event of any cross-border intrusion.
A high-level Taliban delegation is set to visit India and Iran this week for talks that will also involve China, Pakistan, India and Iran, although a senior Russian official has been reported as saying he did not expect any breakthrough. Vladimir Putin, president Zamir Kabulov's special representative on Afghanistan, said also that officials from Russia, the United States, China and Pakistan would meet separately in Moscow on Tuesday to come up with a new position on the changing situation in Afghanistan.