GENEVA, June 20. /TASS/. The collection of data on the war crimes that the US and NATO committed in Afghanistan needs to be continued, Russia’s delegation to the 53rd Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council said.

"The international community needs to remember about the war crimes that the US and NATO militaries committed during their 20-year-long presence in Afghanistan," Russian diplomat Yaroslav Yeryomin said, addressing the session.

"We believe that it is important to continue the work to collect information and expose the crimes committed by the US and NATO in Afghanistan, as well as to make them public," he stressed.

The Russian delegation’s member stressed that attempts by the US and its allies to politicize humanitarian assistance to the Afghan people and link it to the implementation of some obligations were unacceptable. "Facilitating stability and security remains Russia’s priority on the Afghan track," Yeryomin noted.

Moscow is confident that "only long-term peace in Afghanistan will contribute to the favorable development of the entire region." "We have been calling on the interim Afghan government to fulfill its promise to form an inclusive system of government, taking into account the interests of key ethnic and political groups, boosting the fight against terrorism and drug trafficking and ensuring the basic rights and freedoms of the country’s people," the diplomat said.

The Taliban movement (outlawed in Russia) embarked on a large-scale operation to take Afghanistan under control in the spring of 2021 after Washington had announced plans to withdraw troops from the country. Taliban fighters swept into the Afghan capital of Kabul on August 15, 2021, without encountering any resistance, with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fleeing the country. US troops left Afghanistan in early September 2021, ending Washington’s 20-year-long presence in the country.