MOSCOW (TASS) – The United States may continue attempts to deploy its military infrastructure in the territory of countries neighboring on Afghanistan, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.
“Well aware of the Americans’ intrusiveness, I do not rule out that they will be pressing for the same aim from different sides. I’ve heard that they have been trying to persuade India to grant the Pentagon some opportunities on the Indian territory,” he told the Rossiya-24 television news channel in an interview.
Lavrov recalled that Russian President Vladimir Putin told his U.S. counterpart Joe Biden at the Geneva summit in July “Russia is categorically against attempts to conclude agreements with the Central Asian countries on the deployment of U.S. military infrastructure on their territory with the aim of delivering so-called over-the-horizon strikes against targets in Afghan territory”.
Lavrov stressed that such proposals from the United States had also been received by Pakistan, which rejected them, and by Uzbekistan, which stated in public that its Constitution left no room for any actions like the deployment of foreign bases in its territory.
“Kyrgyzstan, too, as represented by its president, said it does not wish this, either,” Lavrov added.
On October 27, Russia’s Foreign Minister in a video message urged Afghanistan’s neighbors to prevent U.S. and NATO military presence on their territories.
The Taliban movement launched a large-scale operation twenty years after it was toppled for control of Afghanistan.
On August 15, the militants entered Kabul without encountering any resistance. President Ashraf Ghani stepped down and left the country.
The Taliban on September 6 stated the whole territory of Afghanistan was under their control. On September 7, they unveiled the composition of an interim government.