Turkmenistan
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. -
Myrat Archayev
head of Turkmenistan's state energy company, Turkmengas
"The total natural gas reserves of Turkmenistan are estimated at 50 trillion cubic meters."
Read more...Turkmenistan undoubtedly has huge reserves of natural gas. But there is not any proof to support Myrat Archaev’s claim his country has 50 trillion cubic meters of gas. If that was true, it would mean Turkmenistan would have the largest gas reserves in the world, surpassing Qatar, Iran, and Russia. -
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. -
Stanislav Govorukhin
Russian lawmaker and film director
"[Russia has] the only constitution in the word stating that any kind of censorship is forbidden."
Read more...This is not even close to true, and Govorukhin need look no further than other nations of the former Soviet Union for constitutions expression banning censorship. The OSCE noted in 2010 that only Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Armenia were the only former Soviet republics not to have censorship bans.