Is Russia now fully on the side of the NATO allies in Afghanistan? This article from Russia’s Argumenty i Facty argues that while Moscow still relishes seeing the alliance suffer, the battle for Afghanistan shouldn’t be one of those times.
For Argumenty i Facty, columnist Mikhail Melnikov writes in part:
Exactly 21 years ago, after being there more than 10 years, Soviet forces left Afghanistan for good. But the, “load is there unto this very day.” And now, Anglo-American forces are in the midst of a large-scale offensive against Islamist positions. These are the same Islamists that they armed against President Najibullah and the Soviet Union. The grimaces of history …
We love to gloat when things don’t go well for NATO. This alliance really doesn’t harbor friendly feelings toward us, and many NATO operations have infringed and will infringe on Russian interests. But Afghanistan is a special case. The people of the Alliance are fighting and dying in rocky deserts there for, among others, you and me. Because it’s Russia that is the largest importer of Afghan heroin; it is us and our children who buy this poison from the plantations across which American tanks now roll. … Is it possible that now, 21 years after the USSR admitted failure, the United States will do better?
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