MOSCOW: Russia’s President Vladimir Putin on Thursday criticized the ‘extremely low’ effectiveness in the fight to rid Afghanistan of what he called international terrorists and the narcotics trade, saying that ‘terrorists’ there continued to receive foreign support.
“We are seriously concerned that terrorist training camps continue to function on Afghan territory, including through the direct involvement of some special services,” Mr Putin was quoted as saying by ITAR-TASS news agency.
Mr Putin said Afghanistan ‘remains a source of constantly growing narco-traffic’.
Russia and its ex-Soviet partners in the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) — which includes three Central Asian states — support international efforts to stabilize Afghanistan, Mr Putin said, but ‘the effectiveness of this fight is still extremely low’.—AFP
