“Initially, we backed U.S. forces’ presence in Afghanistan and earlier voted in favor of a respective U.N. Security Council resolution. I still believe that U.S. presence in Afghanistan does not run counter to our external interests,” TASS quoted President Putin.
Kremlin’s official position when it was announced that American forces are preparing to leave is that “maybe this creates additional conditions for a kind of Afghan reconciliation, but I personally think that this creates many risks,” Russian President said.
“First, we will have to spend more to maintain stability and second, no matter what, still U.S. presence in Afghanistan contributes to stability in the country and their exit creates risks,” the Russian leader explained. “We do not have to fight against the Americans’ presence there,” he continued.
Putin noted that the two countries’ special services continued working in this direction. “We are cooperating with the U.S. despite numerous contradictions on a lot of areas, still cooperation at the level of special services is underway,” he said.
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