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29Aug17

US ambassador expands on Washington's new Afghan strategy

The US Ambassador to Russia John Tefft has provided explanations regarding the new US strategy in Afghanistan at a meeting with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov, the Russian Foreign Ministry reported on Tuesday.

"The American side provided explanations in connection with the new US strategy for Afghanistan and South Asia announced by President Donald Trump," the ministry said.

"The Russian side outlined a number of issues requiring clarification in terms of parameters and modalities of the US military presence in Afghanistan," the Russian Foreign Ministry stressed. "It was noted that the new strategy is aimed at resolving the Afghan problem through the use of force, its consonance with the 'recipes' of the Obama administration, which, as it is known, have yielded no positive results." "Special attention was paid to the lack of transparency in the US military's actions, which gives rise to well-grounded concern from Russia and other regional partners," the ministry noted.

"It was stressed that Moscow does not share Washington's policy aimed at exerting pressure on individual countries in the region, is in favor of equitable cooperation and coordination of approaches towards resolving the situation in Afghanistan taking into account the interests of all regional countries without exception," the ministry noted.

"Among the obvious flaws of this strategy is the absence of the task of combating the Afghan drug threat and a comprehensive approach towards countering the spread of influence of the ISIL [former name of the Islamic State terror group, outlawed in Russia - TASS] in Afghanistan."

The Russian Foreign Ministry added that, during the meeting, the two sides "discussed the opportunities for cooperation between Russia and the US on Afghanistan in bilateral and multilateral formats."

The meeting was initiated by the US diplomat.

[Source: Itar Tass, Moscow, 29Aug17]
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