US President Barack Obama yesterday said American troops would remain in Afghanistan past 2016, retreating from a major campaign pledge as he admitted Afghan forces were not ready to stand alone against the resurgent Taliban.
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He said a planned joint buildup of border guards of several ex-Soviet nations should help fend off the threats coming from Afghanistan.
Before representatives of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kirgizstan, Uzbekistan, Tadzhikistan and Moldova, the statesman reported on the results of the air strikes carried out by Russian military against the ISIL, asked for by constitutional Syrian authorities.
“Terrorists of various stripes are gaining more and more influence and are not hiding their plans for further expansion”, he said”.
The leaders of ex-Soviet states, led by Vladimir Putin, also responded to growing instability in Afghanistan yesterday by agreeing to create a joint task force to defend their bloc’s external borders if a crisis arises. “One of their goals is to push into the Central Asian region. It is important for us to be ready to react to such a scenario together”.
Mr Putin’s comments follower earlier announcements that Russian Federation would beef up its military presence in Tajikistan, an impoverished former Soviet state that borders Afghanistan.
In late September, Taliban fighters briefly took over the northern Afghan city of Kunduz, 70 kilometers from the Tajik border, in a surprise lighting assault against the provincial capital. A few analysts say that could leave room for Russian troops to be deployed to Afghanistan’s borders as part of the collective forces.
But Russian Federation has insisted it has no plans of scaling down the bombings, with one senior general saying it could use its ships in the Mediterranean to fire missiles at ISIS militants. “But the border is a matter of national sovereignty for the Tajik government”, he told AFP.
Terrorists could penetrate the CIS countries from neighboring Afghanistan, he said, adding that “the situation there is indeed close to being critical”.
Putin also said that the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group operating in Syria and Iraq, which includes 5,000 to 7,000 citizens of Russian Federation and other CIS countries, presents a real threat to the Commonwealth.
The White Helmets, a volunteer search and rescue group, has said at least 274 civilians have been killed and 707 injured in airstrikes by Mr Putin and Assad since Russian Federation began its huge campaign.
In a bid to dispel claims by the US and its allies that Russia’s air campaign focused on moderate rebel groups instead of its declared focus on the IS, Kartapolov said the Russian Defense Ministry would send a detailed map showing positions of the IS and Syria’s al-Qaida affiliate targeted by the Russian aircraft.
“We were able to establish business contacts with Middle Eastern governments and we are in negotiations with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Jordan, Israel, and other countries, and are attempting to establish interactions with the United States and Turkey”, he said.
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Putin has dismissed the criticism and accused Washington of refusing to coordinate with Russian Federation over the bombing campaign.
