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President Putin: I am very glad to be able to meet you, to have a talk, to discuss the situation which is evolving in the division. You know that the situation in Central Asia as a whole is stable, but remains sufficiently complicated taking Afghanistan into account. I think that you well know what is happening there. It is still very far to full pacification and to complete stabilization there. Recently, moreover, our special services, including that of the Defense Ministry, have registered a considerably increased activity and the restoration of Taliban structures, of Al-Qaeda structures and so on. In this connection efforts by the international coalition in the fight against the terrorist threat must be improved and built up. The factor of the 201st Division in Tajikistan, in this region is a factor of stability for Tajikistan itself, which is our strategic partner; for the region as a whole the 201st Division is likewise a very positive factor.

We plan the further strengthening of our presence here. Yesterday the President of Tajikistan, Emmomali Rakhmonov, and I quite thoroughly discussed this theme. He supports these plans. Moreover, we agreed to enhance joint work on bringing to the required quality our preliminary agreements on the formation here of a Russian military base.