Withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan to help resolve many problems — analyst

MOSCOW, August 14. /TASS/. If the US military contingent is pulled out of Afghanistan, many of that country’s crucial problems may be resolved, the editor-in-chief of the National Strategy Issues magazine of the Russian Institute for Strategic Research, Adjar Kurtov, has said.

"I believe that the problems that remained unresolved for decades, including drug trafficking, may be resolved successfully if the Americans leave that country," he said. "One should be aware that many of Afghanistan’s problems stem from the fact that Afghans as a nation hate foreign military contingents. Moreover, there have been many examples of how the Americans took too many liberties in Afghanistan. Remove the US factor - and quite possibly the Afghan people and authorities will find the power to restore relations within their country to normal on their own."

Kurtov said that over the many years of US military presence in Afghanistan "one can see no successes in terms of military-political stabilization or modernization of that country in accordance with Western templates, promised at the moment the US contingent was moved in."

"The US military contingent by no means contributed to a military victory over radical Islamist organizations, because it is impossible to supply radical rebels with weapons and at the same time to profess serious struggle against them," he said.

Kurtov believes that the Afghan government should be assisted by neighboring countries, and not an alliance of states located many thousands of kilometers away from the Near East.

"China, Russia, Central Asian countries, Iran, Pakistan and India may well include Afghanistan in their zone of responsibility and help that country cope with its economic, military and political problems. At the same time immediate military presence will not be on the agenda," he concluded.