From Le Figaro with AFP
Published 27 minutes ago, updated 26 minutes ago
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, September 26, 2023. EVGENIA NOVOZHENINA / Portal
A meeting on Afghanistan with several countries in the region is taking place in Kazan, central Russia.
Russian diplomat chief Sergei Lavrov warned on Friday, September 29, of a “return of military infrastructure” by the US or NATO to Afghanistan or the region, saying he was “concerned” about interventions by “non-regional actors “. Russia views much of Central Asia, which was under Tsarist and then Soviet rule, as its natural sphere of influence and the West as an existential threat.
“We believe that the return of the military infrastructure of the United States and NATO to the territory of Afghanistan and neighboring states, regardless of the pretexts put forward, is unacceptable,” Lavrov said during an Afghanistan meeting in Kazan in central Russia. This meeting with several countries in the region will take place in the presence of Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi. “I must note that we are concerned about attempts by non-regional actors to become more involved in Afghanistan,” Sergey Lavrov stressed.
Strengthen bonds
“We will be particularly vigilant on this point,” he added, calling on other countries to do the same. The comments come as Russia seeks to strengthen its ties with Afghanistan, where the Taliban returned to power in 2021 while its influence in its traditional territory is disputed. On Tuesday, Uzbekistan welcomed the “strengthening” of its military cooperation with the United States after a meeting between one of its ministers and Michael Kurilla, head of the American military command in the Middle East, Central and West Asia. South (Centcom).
The country, which borders Afghanistan, temporarily hosted military bases of the US-led coalition on Afghan territory after the attacks of September 11, 2001. Kazakhstan has pledged not to help Russia evade Western sanctions imposed over Russia’s attack on Ukraine. Sergey Lavrov estimated on Friday that cooperation between regional countries and NATO members would be possible only if they recognized their responsibility for “the sad consequences” of their more than twenty years of military presence in Afghanistan.
The latter ended in a “fiasco,” he judged, alluding to the catastrophic withdrawal of American troops in 2021. The USSR itself fought a war in Afghanistan and invaded on Christmas Eve 1979. The Red Army finally withdrew in 1989, at the end of the USSR. back.
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