Russia: US has no ideas on stabilising Afghanistan

KABUL (Pajhwok): The United States lacks fresh ideas about how to stabilise the political situation in Afghanistan, says the Russian Foreign Ministry.

The lack of fresh ideas was reflected by US intentions to rely on those who embody “the failure of the 20-year US democratisation experiment” in Afghanistan, the ministry said.

In a statement, the ministry drew attention to what it called “US attempts to create an impression it is getting more active in the Afghan space”.

It recalled US Special Representative for Afghanistan Tom West’s recent swing through the region, which took him to India, Uzbekistan and Turkey.

West met several Afghan political ‘retirees’ in Istanbul and New Delhi. “The results of his talks with those who had abandoned their people … and, as a result, lost influence in the country, have been unclear.”

Such contacts, the ministry believed, would hardly help stabilise the political environment in Afghanistan or boost international security in South and Central Asia.

“We call on Kabul to search for a compromise solution to form an ethnically and politically balanced structure of power that would reflect the interests of all key players,” the statement added.

It went on to stress that the new political structure must provide the basis for completing the process of intra-Afghan national reconciliation.

“We consider this as the most important condition for ending the international isolation of the new government,” the ministry remarked.

The Taliban movement, currently ruling Afghanistan, was not considered as a terrorist organisation by the UN, the ministry explained.

“The UN Security Council sanctions apply only to individual Taliban functionaries,” explained the press release, published by TASS news agency.

PAN Monitor/mud

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