Patrushev linked US withdrawal from Afghanistan with the need to focus on Ukraine

The US has withdrawn its troops from Afghanistan to concentrate on Ukraine, declared Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation Nikolai Patrushev in an interview with Arguments and Facts.

“The sudden departure of the Americans from this country, as it turned out, was largely due to the fact that they were focusing on Ukraine, where, according to them, the preparation of the Kyiv puppet regime for offensive anti-Russian actions was going well,” Patrushev said.

According to him, this was also confirmed by US Secretary of State Blinken, who said that if the US military had not left Afghanistan, Washington would not have been able to allocate so much money to Ukraine. He also noted that part of the equipment exported from the country was transferred to Europe, mainly to Poland, allowing the Europeans to carry out “militarization of the Kyiv regime.”

The United States invaded Afghanistan after the September 11, 2001 attacks, after a long armed conflict, the United States forces were withdrawn from the country in August 2021. After the withdrawal of American troops from the country, representatives of the terrorist organization Taliban, banned in Russia, came to power in Afghanistan. The new authorities introduced strict Sharia law, most of which affected women. For example, the latter were banned from working with men, playing sports and teaching members of the opposite sex, and girls from going to school.

Russian President Vladimir Putin in the same year called the withdrawal of American troops “flight from the country.” He noted that what is happening in Afghanistan is “directly projected” on the security interests of the SCO member countries. At the same time, following the results of negotiations with Turkmen leader Serdar Berdimuhamedov, the head of state said that the United States and its coalition allies should assume the main obligations and expenses for the post-conflict reconstruction of Afghanistan.