Russia to reject US presence in Afghanistan post UNSC mandate expiry

Πηγή: innews
By ANI
Oct 8 2011


Moscow, Oct 8 (ANI): Russian envoy to NATO Dmitry Rogozin has said that his country will not agree to US military presence inAfghanistan after the expiration of the UN Security Councilmandate.

Rogozin said that the United States is pursuing the same tactic in both Afghanistan and Libya by offering training for the armed forces of those countries upto NATO standards.

"This is only a pretext for preserving their military presence in those counties," The Nation quoted him, as saying.

"This is something we have never agreed with. Afghanistan should be free from foreign interference in its internal affairs, and therefore the coalition forces should only perform the duties mandated by the UN Security Council in 2001," Rogozin added.

Deputy Foreign Minister Alexei Borodavkin also said yesterday that Moscow will insist on scaling down the US military presence in Central Asia after its counter-terrorism operation is completed in Afghanistan.

"The point is that when the counter-terrorism operation in Afghanistan is over, when American armed forces leave this country, and the need to send supplies to them becomes irrelevant, we will insist that the American military presence in Afghanistan and Central Asia must be scaled down," Borodavkin told a meeting of the Russian State Duma, or the lower house of the parliament.