MOSCOW, September 11. /TASS/. The system that Washington established in Afghanistan could not exist without US support so US military construction efforts in Afghanistan turned to dust after the campaign had ended, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev said in an op-ed for the Gazeta.Ru news website, published on Saturday.

According to him, the United States failed trying to provide military support to the previously established Afghan regime. "The Pentagon created the Afghan National Security Forces from scratch, trained and armed them. However, the developments of recent months made it clear that they were unable to exist without US support," Medvedev noted.

After the withdrawal of foreign troops, the country’s armed forces "showed no wish to fight without their sponsors and their money," the Russian Security Council’s deputy chairman said. "They meekly gave up Afghanistan’s provinces and even left the country’s capital without a fight. All US military construction efforts in Afghanistan turned to dust literally in an instant," he emphasized.

Meanwhile, various operations claimed the lives of nearly 2,500 US troops, Medvedev said. "Over 40,000 civilians were killed and more than 75,000 suffered wounds. Many of them died during indiscriminate attacks carried out by NATO forces," Medvedev stressed.

The US’ military presence in Afghanistan has led to catastrophic consequences including numerous terror attacks and a "drug threat" for the entire world, Medvedev said.

"The consequences of the US’ military presence in Afghanistan which cost the American budget an astronomical sum look catastrophic indeed," he noted. "A huge number of terror attacks, the country’s population that lost hope for a peaceful future, the drug threat on a global scale, the destruction of the country’s socio-economic sphere and political system, hundreds of American soldiers killed and servicemen of other countries perished," Medvedev explained.

According to him, the West came to a late realization that Afghanistan’s systemic problems do not have a military solution. "And the power in the country came to those people that the US from the start accused of abetting the executors and instigators of the September terror attacks. It appears that this ‘cyclicity’ most vividly testifies to the senselessness of the twenty-year-long military mission of Americans in Afghanistan," he concluded.

Situation in Afghanistan

On April 14, US President Joe Biden announced plans to end Washington’s operation in Afghanistan, the longest military campaign in US history. After the United States announced plans to withdraw troops from Afghanistan, the Taliban movement (outlawed in Russia) embarked on a large-scale offensive operation and on September 6 announced that they had taken control of the entire country. By September 8, the Taliban formed an interim government that consists only of the movement’s members.