Afghanistan
Saturday 23 September 2017
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Yuri Shvytkin
Deputy chairman of the Russian State Duma’s defense committee
“Today, unfortunately, it can be noted that the United States is trying to establish a loyal regime [in Afghanistan] under the pretext of fighting terrorism. Our country takes the position that the United States (should) withdraw its troops from Afghanistan; the legitimately elected government of Afghanistan takes principally the same position. U.S. success in the fight against terrorism, especially in Afghanistan, is not particularly discernible.”
Read more...U.S. and Afghan forces have, in fact, made major counterterrorism gains, and Afghanistan’s government supports fully the U.S. military presence and the newly unveiled U.S. strategy. -
Мikhail Aleksandrov
Expert with the Center for Military and Political Research, MGIMO
“U.S. actions in Afghanistan are destabilizing, harmful to neighboring countries but above all to Afghanistan itself… ISIS was created by the United States to solve geopolitical problems in the Middle East, [but] now they see it’s not working there and are preparing to move ISIS to Central Asia.”
Read more...The U.S. is actually fighting Islamic State and other terrorist groups in Afghanistan, contributing to the region’s security, as well as its economic and democratic development. -
RT
Russian government-funded international broadcaster
“Afghan military are suspected of molesting minors. However, a public acknowledgement of this fact would mean a rupture of the U.S. relationship with Kabul. But Washington has invested about $700 billion in the Afghan campaign over the last 15 years and is not ready to lose its investments."
Read more...SIGAR and State Department actually acknowledged the problem publicly. -
Sputnik
Russian state broadcaster
“On April 13, the U.S. dropped a non-atomic bomb in the Achin district of the Afghan province of Nangarhar, known as the 'Mother of All Bombs' or MOAB. Following the incident, the citizens who survived are showing signs of horrible diseases.”
Read more...The Russian government's international broadcaster Sputnik, citing anonymous “survivors,” reported that the U.S. MOAB bomb, used against Islamic State targets in Afghanistan in April, caused “radiation” diseases among local civilians. The MOAB has no radioactive components and locals refute the allegations as “lies”. -
Vladimir Putin
Russian President
“Those are [IS] militants” [Vladimir Putin] “You wouldn’t want to join [IS] if you saw that” [Oliver Stone].
Read more...While Putin evidently believed the video was taken from recent Russian air strikes in Syria, in fact, it is a clip evidently of U.S. air strikes in Afghanistan released in 2009. -
Russian Foreign Ministry
“The Afghan website Payam Aftab carried an article about the detention of three U.S. servicemen with a consignment of arms in the Kokistanat District of the northern province of Sar-e Pol last January. ISIS commandos who were going to buy these arms from the Americans were caught at the same time with a huge sum of money.”
Read more...Russia’s Foreign Ministry released a statement accusing American troops in Afghanistan of selling weapons to IS commanders. A fact-check suggests the story was fabricated. -
Zamir Kabulov
Russian president’s special envoy to Afghanistan
“The Taliban… no longer nurtures the ideas of trans-border jihad; in this sense they act as Afghanistan internal armed opposition seeking to change the situation -- so far by force.”
Read more...The Russian president’s special envoy to Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov, said Moscow considers the Taliban a legitimate part of a resolution of the country’s conflict because the group “no longer nurtures the ideas of trans-border jihad.” Taliban leaders, however, recently posted a video vowing to wage jihad until the end, and the group continues deadly attacks on civilians.