GORKI, January 28. /TASS/. The money that the US shelled out on Afghanistan during its 20 year-presence there could have helped turn the poor country into a blooming garden, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev said in an interview with Russian media outlets, including TASS.

"Had the money that was spent over those 20 years been targeted to achieve other goals - I don’t know where it went, there probably were some corrupt deals and wasted spending - I think that Afghanistan could have been turned into a blooming garden," he pointed out. According to Medvedev, it would have been possible "had efforts been made to that end and had the United States refrained from imposing its own model of democracy on everyone else, which it has been spreading across the world and which is thoroughly not applicable to a number of countries."

The Russian Security Council deputy chairman pointed out that the drug trafficking situation in Afghanistan currently was "beyond dramatic, because when the Americans came there in 2001, everyone expected them to clean up the mess in this field, but drug trafficking rose about 40-fold."

When speaking about the prospects for the recognition of the Afghan government formed by the Taliban (outlawed in Russia), Medvedev noted that the Russian authorities have maintained contact with the movement, but much would depend on the "implementation of a number of obligations that the government has, particularly in terms of the fight against terrorism."