KABUL - The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) should work out a pattern of practical actions in Afghanistan, President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday.

Putin suggested the situation requires the special attention of the security organization in view of NATO’s planned withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2014.

The presidents of Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan on Wednesday gathered to focus on practical measures to counter threats emanating from Afghanistan, ways of improving military cooperation within the CSTO framework, and the issue of Uzbekistan.

“The algorithm of practical actions in Afghanistan is needed in order to minimize the possible risks for the CSTO countries,” Putin told the CSTO summit, warning of possible security threats for CSTO countries due to NATO withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2014.

“This will most certainly lead to some additional tensions,” Putin noted. “We should take all of this into consideration in our work.”

This comes as the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan endorsed by the UN Security Council is slated to withdraw from that country in 2014 where they have been deployed since December 2001.

The Collective Security Treaty Organization is an intergovernmental military alliance which was signed on 15 May 1992. On 7 October 2002, the Presidents of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan signed a charter in Tashkent founding the CSTO.

The treaty was registered by the UN Secretariat on November 1, 1995. At the Session of the Council of Collective Security on April 2, 1999 in Moscow the Protocol of prolongation of the Collective Security Treaty was signed. It was ratified by all member states.

According to the Protocol the Treaty is automatically renewed every five years. (KP)