Tajikistan ready to rebuff any foreign aggression

DUSHANBE, May 25 (Itar-Tass) - Secretary of the Tajik Security Council Amirkul Azimov, speaking in an exclusive interview with Itar-Tass on Thursday, said: "Tajikistan has never attacked anybody and threatened nobody. However, it is ready and capable of rebuffing foreign aggression from any state, including Taliban fighters."

He said this, commenting on threatening statements against Tajikistan by Taliban movement officials.

A high-ranking official of the Kabul administration threatened in an interview with Taliban-controlled news agency Afghan Islamic Press that if preventive strikes are made on bases of Chechen gunmen in Afghanistan, "all responsibility will rest with Uzbekistan and Tajikistan".

According to Azimov, Tajikistan has "all forces and means" to rebuff outside aggression and encroachments on sovereignty and integrity of his country. "Let all aggressors know that Tajikistan is different from that of 1992-1993 (Eds: the heat of the civil war). All people will now rise in arms to protect their country and their homes."