The situation in Afghanistan remains extremely difficult and there are no prospects for its normalization, Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev said on Friday at a meeting of heads of security and intelligence agencies of Commonwealth member states in Moscow.
According to him, in the context of common efforts to combat terrorism, drug and weapons trafficking, and transnational organized crime, substantive attention should be paid to the situation in Afghanistan, "which remains extremely difficult."
"Despite the fact that more than a year has passed since the Taliban seized power in the country, there is no perspective for the normalization of the situation. "There are many local and foreign players involved in the crisis processes, often pursuing opposite goals," Patrushev said.
The secretary of the Security Council of Russia also thinks that the system of management created by the radical Taliban movement, the course of Taliban in the internal affairs and euphoria of the "victory over the US" have a negative influence on the situation in Afghanistan. In the context of the overall effort to combat terrorism, drug and arms trafficking, and transnational organized crime, he said, substantive attention should be paid to the situation in Afghanistan, "which remains extremely complex."
"Despite the fact that more than a year has passed since the Taliban seized power in the country, there is no prospect of normalization of the situation. Many local and foreign players, often pursuing opposite goals, are involved in the crisis processes," Patrushev said.
"The system of governance created by the Taliban cannot be considered stable, because the leadership of the group is not determined to form a government with participation of all ethno-political forces," the secretary of the Russian Security Council said, pointing to the continuing rivalry "among representatives of the Taliban elite for power and sources of income." "The negative impact on the situation in Afghanistan is caused by the radical course of the Taliban in domestic affairs. They are still in euphoria from the "victory over the US" and obviously underestimate the danger of the ongoing policy of Pashtunization that infringes on the rights of national minorities," Patrushev added.
As the Russian Security Council secretary noted, a number of local terrorist groups, including those closely associated with IS (banned in Russia), "which periodically enter into situational alliances and can seriously destabilize the situation in certain provinces, as well as in the territories adjacent to Afghanistan, do not reduce their activity either." "The recent terrorist attack near the Russian embassy in Kabul is evidence of this," he concluded.
GSV "Russia - Islamic world"
Photo: official website of the President of the Russian Federation
Based on materials from TASS