Al Jazeera English - Focus - 'US repeating Soviet mistakes': "For the first time since the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan in 1989, and the subsequent fall of the Najibullah government in 1996, Russia says it is ready to play a greater political and economic role in the country it formerly occupied.
It has co-operated with Nato and other western deployments, opening up transit routes for international forces and initiating bilateral co-operation with Kabul.
Andrey Avetisyan, the Russian ambassador to Afghanistan, says Moscow supports the continuing presence of international troops in Afghanistan. However he worries that the international community, especially the US, are committing the same mistakes made during the Soviet occupation.
Al Jazeera interviewed the Russian envoy at his country's new embassy in Kabul.
Al Jazeera: Russia has maintained a low-key presence in Afghanistan for the past few years. Is it preparing to change that approach and move toward a new role in this country?
Andrey Avetisyan: Indeed, we have been playing it kind of low-profile for the past eight years possibly because Russia was looking for its place in the modern Afghan situation. Our firm resolution was, and still is, that Russia is never going to be involved in Afghanistan militarily. We have been waiting for a moment, a good chance to come back to do other things.
This moment seems to have come because in Afghanistan we see, at last, not only fighting but efforts to revive this country, to rebuild its economy ... to do something for education.
These are positive developments because we have been telling our Western friends you cannot win in Afghanistan by fighting terrorism alone. Of course, we support this fight against terrorism and drug-trafficking because the flow of drugs affects Russia a lot. It affects us more than any other country because a lot of it goes through Russia and stays there.
How has Russia supported the so-called war on terror and what changes would you like to see in that effort?
We support the international forces in Afghanistan. We are not interested in their defeat because otherwise we will have to deal with this problem in the future and I think it is in our common interest to join forces.
We have opened transit routes through Russia for example; we train some Afghan police and we are thinking of increasing that number. We are ready to provide Afghanistan with all possible assistance here.
I don't think military victory is possible in Afghanistan in the sense of a conventional war or traditional war, like the Second World War and such. In the end, international forces will leave Afghanistan but the war or the fighting will not stop immediately. Our common responsibility and common goal is to prepare Afghanistan and Afghan security forces to stand and fight alone and to complete this task without an international presence.
The time has not yet come for this because the Afghan army and police are yet to be increased in numbers and should be trained.
Why has Russia has been critical of the attempts to impose Western-style democratic institutions and of the pressures exerted on the Karzai government during the elections?"
It has co-operated with Nato and other western deployments, opening up transit routes for international forces and initiating bilateral co-operation with Kabul.
Andrey Avetisyan, the Russian ambassador to Afghanistan, says Moscow supports the continuing presence of international troops in Afghanistan. However he worries that the international community, especially the US, are committing the same mistakes made during the Soviet occupation.
Al Jazeera interviewed the Russian envoy at his country's new embassy in Kabul.
Al Jazeera: Russia has maintained a low-key presence in Afghanistan for the past few years. Is it preparing to change that approach and move toward a new role in this country?
Andrey Avetisyan: Indeed, we have been playing it kind of low-profile for the past eight years possibly because Russia was looking for its place in the modern Afghan situation. Our firm resolution was, and still is, that Russia is never going to be involved in Afghanistan militarily. We have been waiting for a moment, a good chance to come back to do other things.
This moment seems to have come because in Afghanistan we see, at last, not only fighting but efforts to revive this country, to rebuild its economy ... to do something for education.
These are positive developments because we have been telling our Western friends you cannot win in Afghanistan by fighting terrorism alone. Of course, we support this fight against terrorism and drug-trafficking because the flow of drugs affects Russia a lot. It affects us more than any other country because a lot of it goes through Russia and stays there.
How has Russia supported the so-called war on terror and what changes would you like to see in that effort?
We support the international forces in Afghanistan. We are not interested in their defeat because otherwise we will have to deal with this problem in the future and I think it is in our common interest to join forces.
We have opened transit routes through Russia for example; we train some Afghan police and we are thinking of increasing that number. We are ready to provide Afghanistan with all possible assistance here.
I don't think military victory is possible in Afghanistan in the sense of a conventional war or traditional war, like the Second World War and such. In the end, international forces will leave Afghanistan but the war or the fighting will not stop immediately. Our common responsibility and common goal is to prepare Afghanistan and Afghan security forces to stand and fight alone and to complete this task without an international presence.
The time has not yet come for this because the Afghan army and police are yet to be increased in numbers and should be trained.
Why has Russia has been critical of the attempts to impose Western-style democratic institutions and of the pressures exerted on the Karzai government during the elections?"
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