WASHINGTON, August 17. /TASS/. The Afghan government was fully dependent on Washington and was destined to collapse, but Moscow and Beijing can help stabilize the situation in the region, Professor of international law at the University of Illinois Francis Boyle told TASS.
"The so-called Afghan government was nothing more than a puppet government that the Americans set up, it had no real independence to speak up," he pointed out. "It basically was a house of cards destined to collapse," the expert noted.
According to Boyle, "Russia and China are doing their best to moderate the situation"."We can try to be hopeful that Russia and China can moderate this crash landing of the puppet Afghan government". "President Putin is working very hard to limit the damage here so that Uzbekistan, Tajikistan are not attacked," the expert said.
"President Putin has wisely withheld diplomatic recognition to the Islamic Emirate," Boyle went on to say, adding that it would give Moscow "some leverage to encourage moderation" on the part of the Taliban movement (outlawed in Russia). "President Putin is playing a very constructive role here. And China is too," he said.
When asked if developments in Afghanistan would increase the threat of terrorism, the expert answered in the negative. According to him, "the US war against Afghanistan <...> has nothing to do with terrorism." "The United States went in there to create a strategic base in the heart of Central Asia <...> plus to get as much oil and gas as they could out of Central Asia. So this whole project has failed. I don't think it will create any more or less terrorism that is already there," Boyle emphasized.
When speaking about possible political implications for the US administration, the expert noted that "the administration knew full well what is going to happen here". "They've read the public opinion polls here in the United States, and the public opinion polls indicated after 20 years the American people don't want anything more to do with Afghanistan. They had enough. So I think President Biden and his administration have concluded that it was time to pull out and refocus their efforts elsewhere," Boyle said.
At the same time, Boyle did not rule out that the situation could get out of control. "Anything could set off combat hostilities," he stressed.