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US abruptly left Afghanistan to focus on Ukraine, Russia’s top security official says

Nikolay Patrushev noted that in order to achieve its goals, the US had created terrorist organizations such as Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State (both outlawed in Russia), and later "fought against them"

Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolay Patrushev Vitaly Nevar/TASS

Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolay Patrushev

© Vitaly Nevar/TASS

MOSCOW, January 10. /TASS/. The United States pulled its troops out of Afghanistan in order to focus on Ukraine, Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolay Patrushev said in an interview with aif.ru.

He pointed out that America’s presence in Afghanistan was not the result of combating terrorism but instead generated billion-dollar corruption schemes and skyrocketing drug production. "It turns out that the reasons for the Americans’ abrupt withdrawal from the country included the need to focus on Ukraine, where, in their view, the puppet Kiev regime was making successful preparations for an offensive against Russia," Patrushev stressed.

According to him, this was confirmed by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s remark that without pulling troops out of Afghanistan, Washington would have been unable to allocate as much money to Ukraine. "Besides, some of the equipment withdrawn from Afghanistan was relocated to Europe, mostly to Poland, which made it possible for the Europeans to militarize the Kiev regime," the Russian Security Council secretary added.

He noted that in order to achieve its goals, the US had created terrorist organizations such as Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State (both outlawed in Russia), and later "fought against them." "While making a show of killing some terrorist leaders like Osama bin Laden, they trained and armed hundreds of others," Patrushev emphasized.

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