Foreign Ministry assesses the impact of administration change in the US on the situation in Afghanistan

12 January 2021

 

Moscow does not rule out that US President-elect Joe Biden may adjust Donald Trump's decision to withdraw from Afghanistan, but it is unlikely to be a dramatic change, Zamir Kabulov, the Russian President's Special Representative for Afghanistan and Director of the Second Asian Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry, said in an interview with RIA Novosti.


"The change of the US administration will probably have an impact on the process of peaceful settlement of the situation in the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. We do not rule out that Joseph Biden may make adjustments to the previous administration's decision to withdraw US troops from Afghanistan, but it is unlikely to be a cardinal change," Kabulov said.


According to him, most likely, "changes in the parameters of the withdrawal of US troops should be expected."


"Other options are also possible, such as replacing regular US forces with private military companies, which, in our opinion, would be a mistake," the senior Russian diplomat stressed.


Last year in Qatar, the US and the Afghan radical group Taliban signed their first peace agreement in more than 18 years of war, which calls for the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan in 14 months and the start of an inter-Afghan dialogue in March after a prisoner exchange deal.

 

GSV "Russia - Islamic World"

Photo: Russian Foreign Ministry