MOSCOW, July 20. /TASS/. Moscow believes that US allies and partners, involved in a failed Afghan operation, share equal financial responsibility and should provide Afghanistan with assistance in social-economic restoration, Russia’s Special Presidential Envoy for Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov told the Valdai Discussion Club’s online meeting.

"You and I are well aware of the US weight and influence both on its European allies and international financial institutions. We presume from the understanding that all allies and partners of the United States, who took part in this failed Afghan operation, also share equal responsibility with them. In this case, financially and economically. And all of them should provide Afghanistan with assistance for its social-economic restoration. In other words, Afghanistan (I hope soon peace will come there) will need significant financial resources," said Kabulov, who is also director of the Foreign Ministry’s Second Asia Department.

Meanwhile, Kabulov drew attention to one condition in this issue: Afghanistan’s future state leadership, which will assume power as a result of talks between both conflicting sides, should get this assistance directly, share responsibility and be responsible for the spending and really invest these funds in restoring the economy and social life in this country. "And not like this was over the past 20 years, when we all heard about huge funds spent by the Americans and their allies in this country, but no one sees the trace of this spending at all," he said.

Kabulov stressed that although the US is leaving Afghanistan, it still has certain commitments to Afghanistan and the Afghan people. "As we say, someone has to pay for the broken pots. So, the US at least remains consistent there and pledged to keep providing Afghanistan with financial-economic assistance. By the way, according to a 10-year agreement signed between Washington and Kabul, the US has committed to do so until 2024," the diplomat noted. "In other words, they just reaffirmed their commitments. This is an important factor," he stated.

On April 14, US President Joe Biden announced plans to end Washington’s operation in Afghanistan, the longest overseas military campaign in American history. Meanwhile, the security situation in Afghanistan began to deteriorate as the Taliban (outlawed in Russia) is mounting offensives on several fronts. The movement claims to have taken control of about 85% of Afghanistan, including regions along the border with Iran, China, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan.