September 19, 2008	Friday	Ramazan 18, 1429

KABUL, Sept 18: Russia threatened to block Nato from using its air space for operations in Afghanistan if member states did not stop ‘hostile’ policies towards Moscow, the Kremlin’s top diplomat in Kabul said.

“(Russian air space) is still open, but if the Nato countries continue their hostile policies with regard to Russia, definitely this issue will happen,”

Zamir Kabulov told BBC radio in an interview aired on Thursday.

Nato imports most of its logistics via Pakistan to Afghanistan, but also uses Russia’s air space for some cargo.

The 26-member alliance upset Russia by saying its use of force in a brief war with Georgia last month was disproportionate. Nato has also said Georgia will eventually be allowed to join the alliance. Russia is fiercely opposed to further Nato expansion.

Kabulov said the United States had made far too many mistakes since toppling the Taliban government in 1991.

“The main one ... is that it did not work with the Afghan government and the Afghan nation,” Kabulov said.

“During the past six years, instead of strengthening the Afghan government, the Afghan armed forces and the Afghan economy, they strengthened their military presence and this is a main and fundamental mistake.”

More than 71,000 foreign troops under the command of Nato and the US military are stationed in Afghanistan where the Taliban has made a come back since 2005.

The former Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979, pulling its forces out some 10 years later in the face of resistance from mostly western-backed Afghan factions.

Separately, a respected international think tank said on Thursday that Nato would be making a major strategic error trying to expand in the face of Russian anger.

The London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies said that Nato must not play ‘Russian roulette’ with the Kremlin as it considers how to respond to Moscow’s “disproportionate” use of force in Georgia.

The IISS questioned whether the US-led alliance should ‘lock horns’ with Russia, given its strategic need for support from Moscow in flashpoints such as Afghanistan and Iran.

—Reuters