Militants entering Afghanistan

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that battle-hardened militants from Iraq and Syria are "actively" entering Afghanistan as the country's new rulers are struggling to steady the ship as it faces problems from multiple fronts.

"The situation in Afghanistan is not easy," Putin said during a video conference with security service chiefs of ex-Soviet states.

"Militants from Iraq, Syria with experience in military operations are actively being drawn there," he said.

"It is possible that terrorists may try to destabilise the situation in neighbouring states," he added, warning that they could even try "direct expansion".

Putin has repeatedly warned about members of extremist groups exploiting political turmoil in Afghanistan to cross into neighbouring ex-Soviet countries as refugees.

While Moscow has been cautiously optimistic about the new Taliban leadership in Kabul, the Kremlin is concerned about instability spilling over into Central Asia where it houses military bases.

In the wake of the Taliban takeover, Russia held military drills with ex-Soviet Tajikistan -- where it operates a military base -- and in Uzbekistan. Both countries share a border with Afghanistan.

Tajikistan's national security chief, Saimumin Yatimov, for his part told the video conference that he had registered an "intensification" of attempts to "smuggle drugs, weapons, ammunition" from Afghanistan into his country.

While the Taliban has said it does not pose a threat to Central Asian countries, the ex-Soviet republics in the region have previously been targeted by attacks attributed to allies of Afghan Islamists.

Highlighting the security worries, a bomb ripped through a vehicle carrying a Taliban police chief in eastern Afghanistan yesterday, killing him and wounding 11 others, officials said.

The blast happened in Asadabad, the capital of Kunar province, targeting the Taliban police chief for Shigal district, said an official from the Islamist group.

No one claimed responsibility for the attack but the Islamic State-Khorasan group, who are active in eastern Afghanistan, have claimed similar attacks on the Taliban in the past.

Meanwhile, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) suspended flights to the Afghan capital, Kabul, yesterday after what it called heavy handed interference by Taliban authorities, including arbitrary rule changes and intimidation of staff.

The suspension took place as the Taliban government ordered the airline, the only international company operating regularly out of Kabul, to cut ticket prices to levels seen before the fall of the Western-backed Afghan government in August.