The Russian leader warned that terror groups have been stepping up their activities in Afghanistan since the disastrous withdrawal of US troops in 2021
Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a warning on 8 February about the deteriorating humanitarian crisis that has unraveled in Afghanistan since the withdrawal of US troops after 20 years of occupation.
“Unfortunately, since the US armed forces fled Afghanistan, the situation has not improved. International terrorist organizations are stepping up their activities, including Al-Qaeda, which is strengthening its capabilities,” the Russian leader said during a meeting in Afghanistan with security representatives from several countries.
Putin went on to criticize western powers for turning a blind eye to the crisis in Afghanistan, saying that the existence of other conflicts does not decrease the importance of the Afghan crisis.
“Clearly, there is a lot of conflict in the world today; there are also a lot of conflicts here, close to Russia, including on the Ukrainian direction. We are well aware of that, we understand it perfectly, but it does not decrease the importance of the situation in Afghanistan,” Putin said.
He noted that maintaining security in Afghanistan is “twice as important today [for Russia] … because we do not want any other tension point to appear on our southern borders.”
“Millions of people – about 4 million people according to our information – are in need of urgent humanitarian aid,” Putin added before stressing that Moscow is “doing everything for solutions to be found.”
“We have established communication with the leadership of Afghanistan in Kabul. We know there are plans to carry out major economic projects that could stabilize the economic situation,” Putin said.
Last year, Moscow and Kabul signed a deal to provide the war-torn country with one million tons of gasoline, one million tons of diesel, 500,000 tons of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), and two million tons of wheat annually.
Afghanistan has been mired in one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises ever since the defeat of the US-trained army by Taliban forces in August 2021. Following the chaotic withdrawal of US troops, Washington froze $10 billion of Kabul’s foreign reserves and blocked the war-torn country from receiving aid from international organizations.
Putin’s warning on Wednesday came just one day after US President Joe Biden delivered the annual state of the union address, during which he failed to make any mention of the crisis gripping Afghanistan.