KABUL: The Afghan government on Friday welcomed the launch of a joint military exercise by Russia and Tajikistan near Afghanistan’s mountainous border region as part of a move to combat militant infiltration into central Asia.

The drills come amid a worsening security in northern Afghan provinces following attacks by extremists, including Daesh.

Meanwhile, protests against the administration of President Ashraf Ghani have intensified in the region with demonstrators closing down three border crossings, election offices and several government institutions.

According to media reports, the Russian-Tajikistan drills involve about 700 Tajik reservists and 400 Russian troops, and are centered on Afghanistan’s rugged Badakhshan province, a strategic region which lies near Tajikistan, China and Pakistan.

Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman Mohammad Radmanesh said the Afghan government was notified before the launch of the drills, the first major military activity since the drastic reduction of US-led foreign troop numbers in Afghanistan in late 2014.

“We see this as a good omen,” said Radmanesh. “We hope other countries in the region will do the same. It will be good for peace in the region and help regional stakeholders as well as Afghanistan, which lies on the front line in the war against terrorism,” he told Arab News.

Ahmad Faisal Begzad, governor of Badakhshan, denied the security situation in the province was bad enough for Taliban and Daesh militants to pose a threat to neighboring countries.

“There are problems — two districts are with the enemy (militants), while the situation in the two other districts is also not good. But, in general, the militants cannot pose any threat to countries in the region,” he told Arab News.

Badakhshan and other northern provinces are also key corridors for drug smuggling to central Asia, as well as Russia and Europe.

Attacks by militants and drug dealers have claimed the lives of a number of Afghan troops stationed along the border with central Asia in recent years. The resurgent Taliban have said they have no interest in threatening any country in the region.

Russia has kept bases and troops in the central Asian region for decades.

Najib Mahmoud, a political science professor, said central Asia and Moscow are worried by the rise in militant attacks and deepening political problems in northern Afghanistan.

“Military maneuvers is a common issue. Russian troops along the borders are worried about the political fragility in Afghanistan and military developments,” Mahmoud told Arab News.

“A potential spillover (of terror) may encourage a sense of nationalism and militancy in central Asia, which will affect Russia’s security in the long run,” he said.

Tajikistan is a member of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, a Russian-led military alliance established in 1992. Russia’s 201st military base in Tajikistan is its largest military facility abroad, which Moscow intends keeping until 2042, through a bilateral agreement.

The joint military exercise kicked off in the Pamir Mountains, near the Tajik-Afghanistan border, on Tuesday and will end on Saturday.