Russian President Vladimir Putin announced today, Monday, that he is ready to support Tajikistan against the escalation of confrontations with neighboring Afghanistan.

The Kremlin said, in a statement, that the Russian President "had a conversation over the phone with the President of Tajikistan, Emomali Rahmon, during which he affirmed his country's readiness to provide bilateral support within the framework of the Collective Security Treaty Organization."

During the phone conversation, Putin discussed the severity of the situation on the Tajik-Afghan border as a result of an armed confrontation in Afghanistan.

According to the statement, the two sides agreed to connect at various levels, "in order to strengthen bilateral relations, strategic partnership, and alliance."

Earlier today, the President of Tajikistan directed Defense Minister Sher Ali Mirza to mobilize 20,000 soldiers to the country's borders with Afghanistan, to confront the Taliban's control of more than 70% of the international borderline between the two countries.

In light of the faltering negotiations between them to reach a permanent ceasefire agreement and discuss the country's political future, violence and bloody confrontations escalated between government forces and the militant Afghan Taliban movement.

US President Joe Biden announced, this month, that there will be a "gradual" withdrawal of his country's forces from Afghanistan, while the White House spokeswoman expected "to end the withdrawal from Afghanistan by the end of next August."

It is noteworthy that, at the end of February 2020, at a ceremony in Qatar, the United States and the Taliban signed the first peace agreement in more than 18 years of war, which highlights the withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan within 14 months.