Russian security chief says Western powers plotting NATO’s return to Afghanistan

Western powers are seeking to reestablish NATO’s military infrastructure in Afghanistan, Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu claimed in an article published by Rossiyskaya Gazeta.

According to Shoigu, despite their official stance of not recognising the Taliban government, the United Kingdom, Germany, and the United States are actively pursuing closer engagement with the Afghan authorities in an effort to regain influence in the region.

“Western powers <...> are hatching plans to return NATO military infrastructure to the region. Despite declarative statements about their lack of intention to recognise the Taliban's authority, London, Berlin, and Washington are demonstrating their desire to build closer ties with the Afghan leadership. It is no coincidence that their emissaries have been visiting Kabul frequently lately,” Shoigu wrote.

He also asserted that during the years of the US and NATO presence in Afghanistan, the largest drug plantations in the country were located in areas controlled by the alliance.

“This raises the question of the true purpose of the bloc's presence in the South Asian country,” he added.

In April, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also noted that Moscow was closely monitoring what he described as attempts by Western countries to reassert their positions in Afghanistan, which they lost following the withdrawal of US and NATO troops in 2021.

The US announced its decision to withdraw military forces from Afghanistan in April 2021, sparking intensified clashes between the Taliban and the then-official Afghan government. NATO allies began their own troop withdrawals in May, and by August, the Taliban had seized control of the country.

Former NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg later attributed the rapid collapse of Afghanistan’s security forces to “the collapse of political and military leadership, which then led to the collapse of the entire defence against the Taliban.” According to him, American allies were aware, to varying degrees, of the inevitability of the Afghan government’s fall.

By Tamilla Hasanova