Afghanistan Is a Disaster Drug Mecca and Vladimir Putin Plans to Do Something About it

A journalist of Ishi News Agency and Arzu TV-channel: "Recently you had a phone call with Donald Trump. You discussed the situation in Afghanistan, including the growing terrorist and drug threats. In this regard, I'd like to know what is your assessment of the possibility of cooperation with the USA in the struggle against these threats in the long term?"

Vladimir Putin: "This is one of the directions, where we really could join efforts with the USA. And if we achieved this collaborative work, these efforts would be more effective. We see the growing threat in Afghanistan from international terrorists. We see that radical international formations are occupying more and more areas in northern Afghanistan, at the border with former republics of the Soviet Union. This relates to Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan. No doubt, this causes our big concern especially considering the presence of the Russian 201st military base in Tajikistan and the airbase in Kyrgyzstan. We're carefully watching these processes. We see that Afghanistan’s central government needs the international community’s support. As in the previous years, we are ready to provide this support including in the training of national law-enforcement personnel and the armed forces, supplying necessary armament systems and military hardware.

 

Without economic support, Afghanistan won’t be able to solve all its problems including the problem of drug production. As you know, unfortunately, the largest amount of drugs and also hard drugs is produced in Afghanistan and a part of them is trafficked into the Russian market and this cannot but concern us. We are ready to work together with the Afghan government with the United States and other governments concerned to overcome these difficulties".