© Reuters / Goran Tomasevic
FILE PHOTO.
Moscow has long been supportive of the presence of American troops in Afghanistan as it believes they contribute to the region's stability and ultimately aid Russia's national interests, President Vladimir Putin said on Sunday.
"I'll say it once again:
we have no need to fight the American presence [in Afghanistan]," Putin said in an interview aired on the Rossiya-1 TV channel.
The president was responding to a reporter's question about assertions in US media, using anonymous sources, insisting Russia had paid bounties to Taliban militants to kill American soldiers. The interview was recorded for a show called 'Moscow, Kremlin, Putin.'
The New York Times initially published the claim about the 'rewards' - only to eventually admit it has zero evidence to prove its accusations. The Pentagon has repeatedly said it has found no proof of such a practice, it had said it planned to "get to the bottom" of the 'story.'
However, the lack of evidence did not stop some US politicians, including Democratic Party presidential candidate Joe Biden, from reasserting the allegations. He revisited them during his latest - and final - debate with President Donald Trump on Thursday night.
It was "strange" to hear such assertions, Putin said, given that harming US troops in Afghanistan would, in the end, harm Russia's own interests.
We have supported the US presence in Afghanistan from the very outset. We supported the UN Security Council's corresponding resolution.
"The US presence in Afghanistan still contributes ... to stability in that country," the president said, adding that, in this sense, it does not run counter to Russia's own priorities. On the contrary, the withdrawal of American personnel could lead to "many risks," even if it created conditions for an intra-Afghan reconciliation, he opined.
Comment: RT reports on the UK health ministers announcement that the vaccine is 'not there yet' - with one death and a number of people who fell ill during the trials, this announcement was predictable. This also means it's highly likely local lockdowns - or worse - will continue through the Christmas holidays: Bear in mind, if the UK's aim was to help people through vaccines then both Russia and China have one available. There's also the medication hydroxychloroquine. But this isn't about helping people, this is about a much more nefarious agenda:
- Everything You Think You Know About Coronavirus...
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