The situation of Afghans who worked for the collective West led by the United States, as well as the overall situation in the republic after the withdrawal of American troops is disastrous, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday at a plenary session of the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF).
"Indeed, it is a disaster. This is the truth. These are not my words. These are the words of American analysts themselves. It's a disaster because the Americans - people who are very pragmatic - have spent more than a trillion and a half dollars on this entire campaign, and what is the result?" the head of state pointed out. - "And if you look at the number of people abandoned in Afghanistan, working for the collective West, for the US and its allies, it is also a humanitarian disaster."
The president also said that imposing a democratic state structure on countries by force is unacceptable, the nations must come to it on their own. "If democracy is needed by a nation, people will come to it on their own, there is no need to do it by violent means," the Russian leader stressed.
"In the example of Afghanistan, I have already heard from many of my colleagues: "Yes, this is a mistake, yes, we behaved wrongly, we should not do this in the future." But this has been the case since the so-called enlightenment activities of Catholic priests who came to China and civilized the local population there, relying on certain achievements in the field of science, education, and medicine. But their main goal was to promote Catholicism," the president added. According to him, the principles have not changed much since then, only today it is "not a spiritual and economic colonization, but an attempt to preserve its influence under the pretext of promoting the principles of democracy".
In this context, he pointed out that the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan, unlike the US forces, was carried out in an organized manner. "If the Soviet Union had not stopped providing at least economic assistance at the end of its existence, no one knows how the situation in Afghanistan would have turned out. Perhaps the opposing forces would have come to some agreement," the President pointed out.
"But the Americans were withdrawing by air bridges, while the Soviets were withdrawing to their own border. That's a different story, in that sense, it was easier for the Soviet Union," Putin concluded.
Imposing from the outside
Putin noted that the West continues its policy of externally imposing standards on other countries, despite the lessons of Afghanistan. "Is this the end of some kind of hegemony of the West? What's the point? The point is that these lessons - they are there, these lessons - so that they are properly understood and that changes are made in real policy. They say about Afghanistan: we got in there, we made a lot of mistakes. And at the same time, the same thing continues with regard to other countries. What are sanctions? This is a continuation of the same policy, the imposition of their standards," Putin said.
According to him, we are talking not only about Russia but also about other countries, including the countries of the Asia-Pacific region. "And in Latin America, everywhere, all over the world. If some capital conclusions are made, then we may witness some global changes in world politics. And the end of this dominance or not, it depends primarily on the economic potential of those countries that are present on the international stage," he said.
The president of the Russian Federation stressed that the task is to work together with partners to combine efforts and achieve better results in the development of their own country. Then Russia's importance and voice will grow, and this will benefit not only the Russian, Russian people, but also all of the country's partners.
He also noted that Russia is not interested in the disintegration of Afghanistan. "Russia is not interested in the disintegration of Afghanistan. If this happens, then there will be no one to talk to. And if so, one should think that the sooner the Taliban (a movement banned in Russia - TASS) enters, so to say, the family of civilized nations, the easier it will be to contact, communicate and somehow influence and ask some questions, if not demand, but raise questions that civilized rules must be respected within the framework of civilized relations," Putin said.
Face the realities
Putin called for reckoning with the reality that the Taliban control almost all of Afghanistan. "Now the reality is that the Taliban control almost the entire territory of Afghanistan with the exception of Panjshir and the territories adjacent there to the north, small territories, but nevertheless adjacent to Tajikistan. Today the Taliban are in control. If this is true, then we must proceed from the reality," Putin said.
He recalled that the movement is diverse, although it consists mostly of Pashtun tribes. "There are many representatives of other organizations on the territory of Afghanistan today, including extreme ones - ISIS (banned in the Russian Federation) and so on. A lot of people have been released from prisons, and radical elements," the president pointed out.
Common threat
Putin said that recently he has discussed Afghanistan "with many colleagues". Events in Afghanistan pose a threat to Russia's neighboring Asian countries, and thus to Russia itself, the head of state added. "In case of disintegration [in Afghanistan] there will be nobody to talk to, and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (banned in the Russian Federation), and whatever else there is in the territory of today's Afghanistan, and all this threatens our allies and neighbors. And if you bear in mind the fact that we have no visa restrictions and free movement across the borders, it is very important for us, for Russia, in terms of ensuring its security," the president explained.
In this regard, he deems it is necessary to unite efforts, to fight the problems together, and to solve the problem of the legalization of political forces in Afghanistan. "It's necessary to deal with this, to unite efforts. And when I see today from some high-ranking representatives, from the same United States, that we will now liberate by force, focus our efforts on continuing to fight China or Russia, I want to say - first sort out those with whom you have been fighting for 20 years, and then already talk about what you will confront Russia and China," Putin noted.
He urged not to forget that the US deployed troops to Afghanistan after the brutal terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and this operation was dedicated to the fight against terrorism. "It is necessary to unite in order to effectively combat terrorism, for the sake of combating which American troops were introduced into the territory of Afghanistan, with the spread of drugs, organized crime. There are common threats, and only together can we fight them effectively," Putin concluded.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: official website of the President of the Russian Federation
Based on materials from TASS