© AP Photo / Militant websiteDaesh terrorists pass by a convoy in Tel Abyad, northeast Syria (File)
The Russian Foreign Ministry stated that the United States was planning a disinformation attack on Moscow in Afghan and some Western media outlets, aimed at discrediting Russia's policy concerning Afghanistan. Specifically, Washington plans to accuse Moscow of helping Daesh* redeploy militants from Syria and Iraq to Afghanistan, the ministry added.
The Foreign Ministry said in its statement that the disinformation attack will be aimed at diverting the international community's attention from the failures of the 17-year-long US operation in Afghanistan.
Moscow's Counterclaims
The diversion of public's attention is not the only goal of the planned US provocation, the ministry noted. According to it, Russia has obtained indirect evidence of US ties to Daesh*. The ministry said that a US special forces unit had raided a Taliban prison, holding several Daesh* militants prisoner after being captured in August 2018. These prisoners were taken in an unknown direction.
The Foreign Ministry alleged that the US was interested in breaking out the Daesh* prisoners to prevent information about their sponsors from being leaked.
Moscow further noted that it had told the US and its NATO allies about the issue of unidentified helicopters flying to Afghanistan and delivering supplies and weapons to Daesh*, which is based in the country's north, near Russia's neighbours. The ministry alleged that rather than answering Moscow's tough questions about the helicopters, Washington had decided to shift the blame by resorting to a disinformation campaign against Russia.
This is not the first time that the United States has been accused of working with Daesh* militants. In September 2018, the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported that, citing local sources, the US-led coalition in Syria had helped evacuate several Daesh leaders from Deir ez-Zor. It was unclear where they were taken.
*Daesh (also known as ISIS/ISIL/IS) is a terrorist organization banned in Russia
Immediately after, there is a US/UK invasion of Afghanistan - presumably looking for "Osama Bin Laden"... A new "democratic" government is introduced and two or three years later the opium production in Afghanistan nearly triples.
The opium trade in Afghanistan certainly has an interesting if not dubious history.