by Karimullah Amini
Zamir Kabulov, Russia's Foreign Ministry's director of the Second Asian Department has declared the Taliban a potent armed political power, saying that the Taliban and Russia are bound by common ties in their campaign against Daesh in Afghanistan.
He said that Russia completely agreed with the general perception that the U.S has no clear strategy in Afghanistan and it only has a military and political presence in the war-hit nation.
"I agree with the view that America has no Afghanistan strategy. They have a single purpose, [which is] to exist in Afghanistan in terms of military and political. Afghanistan is geopolitically located in an important place to control China through Central Asia, Iran, Russia, and Pakistan. This situation naturally disturbs us".
"Whether we accept it or not, the Taliban is a potent political armed force, but the question, if the group has the same power it had 15 years ago, should be asked from the U.S. There is an independent government in Afghanistan, because of this, foreign countries are responsible for the events that took place in the country in the past fifteen years. The current situation is the result of their (foreigners) wrong policies, but we can still resolve these problems," he said.
Meanwhile, the European Union Special Representative for Afghanistan Franz-Michael Skjold Mellbin has said that Afghanistan has been the victim of regional rivalries.
He said that regional players are trying to secure their own people at the expense of others.
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