The interests of the United States and Russia in the Afghan settlement issue largely coincide.

This was stated by the special representative of the president of the Russian Federation for Afghanistan, director of the second department of Asia of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Zamir Kabulov.

“We are practitioners and pragmatists, we need to address issues of our national interests, Russia's security interests in the long term.

And the Americans are important partners for us in this respect.

This is almost the only field where we work with the Americans and effectively.

At least we want the same thing.

We appreciate this and do it in our own interests and in the interests of our allies.

At the same time, it turns out that this coincides with the interests of the United States.

Well, we are ready for such a conversation, "Kabulov said in an interview with RIA Novosti.

At the same time, the diplomat stressed that Washington is now in a less advantageous position than Moscow.

“They (USA -

RT

) have to be constructive, because they are in a desperate situation.

They need to somehow justify themselves in this situation, "Kabulov noted.

  • Special Representative of the President of the Russian Federation for Afghanistan, Director of the Second Asia Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry Zamir Kabulov

  • RIA News

  • © Ramil Sitdikov

"Biden will have to give up confrontation"

Recall that the United States began to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan on May 1.

By July 13, 95% of American troops had left the country, the US Central Command said.

The most significant was the withdrawal of the Americans from the Bagram airbase, which was considered the main point of the country's military forces in Afghanistan.

According to media reports, representatives of the States did this without even warning the Afghan military about their departure.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called this exit "hasty."

"The Americans have made a lot of things to understand over the 20 years of their presence in Afghanistan, ranging from the declaration of the victory of democracy and ending with such a rather hasty withdrawal, abandoning a huge amount of equipment and other equipment," Lavrov said.

Note that the United States plans to completely withdraw its troops by September 11, 2021, after a 20-year campaign in the country.

The withdrawal agreement was reached during the presidency of Donald Trump.

The corresponding agreement was signed on February 29, 2020 by US Special Representative for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad and Taliban political leader Abdul Ghani Baradar.

It was originally planned to withdraw the military by May 1, 2021.

However, after the change of leadership in the United States, the timing was revised.

The administration of the current President Joe Biden moved them to September 11, coinciding with the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks in New York, which served as one of the reasons for the invasion of Afghanistan.

At the same time, the process of reducing the presence of American troops began back in 2014 under President Barack Obama.

At the same time, experts note that such a rapid departure of the American military can provoke the spread of international terrorism in Afghanistan.

Therefore, it is beneficial for the United States to cooperate with Russia to control and resolve the situation in the country.

“The point is not to allow Afghanistan to turn into a hotbed of international terrorism after the withdrawal of American troops.

Considering that at present, the defeated ISIS units ** are gradually relocated to various regions of the planet, the United States and Russia will take actions capable of repelling this threat, "Vladimir Batyuk, head of the Center for Military-Political Studies of the Institute of the USA and Canada of the Russian Academy of Sciences, explained in an interview with RT ...

Alexander Vavilov, professor of the Diplomatic Academy of the Russian Foreign Ministry, agrees with him.

In his opinion, the United States is interested in cooperation with the Russian Federation, because it does not want Afghanistan to subsequently turn back into a battlefield and become a haven for Islamists around the world.

“The situation in Kabul is becoming more critical every day - this unites Moscow and Washington and provides an opportunity for conscientious work.

But so far it is difficult to say how this work will be carried out, since Biden has quite a few internal problems in the United States, "Vavilov added in an interview with RT.

The expert also considered it likely that productive cooperation between Russia and the United States in Afghanistan will further serve as an incentive for the normalization of their relations in other areas.

“Relations between the United States and Russia will develop towards improvement.

Biden will have to give up confrontation, pressure and sanctions against Moscow in order to jointly respond to international challenges and threats, ”Vavilov expressed confidence.

Shuffled responsibility

After the Americans began to withdraw their troops from Afghanistan, the situation in the country worsened.

The Taliban stepped up and began to attack and push government forces.

However, Washington said that their Afghan partners must now defend their positions themselves.

“The Afghan government and leadership must unite.

They definitely have the ability to preserve the state.

The question is whether they can build cohesion to do this, ”Joe Biden said earlier.

  • Afghan servicemen

  • Reuters

  • © Danish Siddiqui

In his opinion, in spite of everything, the Taliban is unlikely to be able to fully seize power in Afghanistan.

The position of the President of the United States was confirmed by the Pentagon as well.

So, the press secretary of the department, John Kirby, noted that the United States "is working with the Afghan military, encouraging them to use the capabilities and potential that, as is known (Washington. -

RT

), they have."

At the same time, he stressed that the American side is watching with concern the deterioration of the security situation in the republic and the growth of violence.

Against this background, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov expressed the opinion that the withdrawal of the American military from Afghanistan is in fact evidence of the failure of their mission.

“The United States is not just withdrawing troops from Afghanistan, it is withdrawing them, de facto admitting the failure of its 20-year mission,” the minister said.

"Russia can talk to any of the forces"

At the same time, Russia now has good positions for negotiating with the Taliban to resolve the situation, Zamir Kabulov said.

According to him, Moscow foresaw a possible deterioration of the situation in connection with the withdrawal of the Americans.

Therefore, she began to establish contacts with the movement in advance.

“Now imagine that if seven years ago we would not build bridges with the Taliban, contact, bring them our concerns, our interests, and we would follow the failed Westernizers and stigmatize them, who would we talk to now?

They have problems, but Russia can talk to any of the forces in Afghanistan, ”Kabulov said.

In addition, the special envoy clarified that the Taliban have already given Moscow certain guarantees at the highest level.

In particular, they pledged not to use the territory of Afghanistan against the interests of third countries and not to carry military actions outside their state.

So, Kabulov spoke about the situation when the military government troops fled to the territory of Tajikistan and from there opened fire on the Taliban who took their positions.

“But the Taliban instructed all field commanders not to open fire on Tajik territory,” the diplomat stressed.

At the same time, Kabulov said that Russia is worried that IS militants could take advantage of the chaos of the war in northern Afghanistan.

In this regard, the actions of the Taliban, the irreconcilable enemies of IS, in the north of the country, "deprive ISIS of the ground for attacks and sabotage against Central Asia."

At the same time, experts believe that one should not rely entirely on the assurances of representatives of the movement. After all, as Vladimir Batyuk noted, "there are still quite serious political and ideological differences in the approaches of Russia and the Taliban to the situation in Afghanistan and around it." However, he stressed, the Taliban now need to gain a foothold in the international arena as a political force. Therefore, this moment can be used as a lever of pressure on them.

“The Taliban are interested in international recognition.

They need it in order to develop economic cooperation with the outside world.

And in this there is an opportunity to influence the Taliban movement in the direction necessary for the neighboring countries of Afghanistan, in particular, in the fight against international terrorism in the person of ISIS, illegal drug production, and ensuring political stability in Afghanistan, "the interlocutor of RT summed up.

* "Taliban" - the organization was recognized as terrorist by the decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation of February 14, 2003.

** "Islamic State" (IS, ISIS) - the organization was recognized as terrorist by the decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation of December 29, 2014.