Uzbekistan announced the completion of mine clearance of its border with Tajikistan. Uzbekistan refused help from Tajikistan and conducted the mine clearance by its own forces, Asia-Plus said.
Note: Following the first state visit of the President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev to Tajikistan in March 2018, the heads of the two states agreed that the border between the countries would be cleared from mines before 2020.
Uzbekistan mined the mountainous sections of the border with Tajikistan at the end of the 90s. Then the Uzbekistan authorities explained such actions by saying that it wants to prevent the militants of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan from entering its territory.
According to the Tajik National Mining Center, over the past twenty years, a total of 374 Tajik nationals had been killed by the anti-personnel mines, another 485 Tajiks were injured.
