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Russia doubts US troop plan can help Afghanistan

US army personnel leave a truck inside an Afghan military base during fighting between Taliban militants and Afghan security forces in Kunduz on October 1, 2015. (AFP photo)

Russian officials have expressed doubt that a new plan by the United States to extend its military presence in Afghanistan could help the war-ravaged country.

Russian presidential envoy to Afghanistan and head of the Russian Foreign Ministry's Second Asia Department Zamir Kabulov said on Thursday that Washington’s decision to maintain its number of troops in Afghanistan could not improve the situation there.

"I don't know what this will change. I have often said that if 100,000 [military personnel] couldn't do it, what can be expected from 5,000 or 6,000,” said Kabulov,

The comments by Kabulov came after senior officials in the Pentagon said earlier in the day that US President Barack Obama plans to keep 5,500 American troops in Afghanistan when he leaves office in 2017, despite his previous pledge to end the combat mission.

“This could be a form of moral and political support to Afghan authorities, who believe, for some reason, that continued foreign military presence will make their life easier and help them survive,” Kabulov said.

He said Kabul and the Afghan people “must first of all rely on their own strength, while the West needs to provide them with real assistance,” noting that such help could come in the form of delivering necessary weapons and sending air force troops when needed.

Kabulov said the US administration could rather provide Kabul with “material assistance” instead of insisting on its massive military presence there.

“That would be much more effective than thousands of American soldiers chasing the Taliban on Afghan territory," he said in comments carried by RIA Novosti.

Russian presidential envoy to Afghanistan and head of the Russian Foreign Ministry's Second Asia Department Zamir Kabulov (AP file photo)

 

Obama had previously promised to withdraw all US troops stationed in Afghanistan except for a small, embassy-based military personnel by the end of next year which will coincide with the final weeks of his time in office.

However, a growing threat by the Taliban, a group which US and allies claimed to have defeated when they invaded Afghanistan in 2001, has apparently pushed Obama to change the pull-out timetable.

Obama is expected to officially announce the changes from the White House in the coming hours. Officials say he would outline plans for maintaining the current force of 9,800 troops in Afghanistan through most of next year and then to size it down to 5,500 in 2017. 


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