19 February 2004 17:20
Afghan war promoted international terrorism, says Putin
Moscow, 19 February: Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that veterans of the Afghan war [involving Soviet
troops] should not be ashamed of that fact in their biographies. [Passage omitted: Putin was addressing former Afghan
war fighters in Moscow today to mark the 15th anniversary of the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan.]
"Admittedly, the leadership of the Soviet Union certainly did not rush into the decision to deploy troops in
Afghanistan. The situation in that country was regularly discussed by the politburo [of the Communist Party of the
Soviet Union] and by the General Staff," the president said. "At the same time, requests to provide military
aid were constantly forthcoming from Afghanistan itself. As a result, the decision to that effect was taken in December
1979. Of course, the Soviet leadership's wish to safeguard our southern borders did play a role. Afghanistan was an
extremely unstable and unpredictable neighbour, and we are currently seeing what has been going on there."
The head of state noted: "I must say that Soviet commanders - I want to draw special attention to this - it was
military personnel who opposed that operation, saying that it was difficult to carry out combat missions in special
conditions, among other things." "There is documentary evidence of this, backed up by veterans who were
involved in those processes at that time," Putin said. "But the superpowers and their allies had been in
conditions of global confrontation for decades, and they acted in line with that logic, the logic of confrontation. They
acted in line with their understanding of political interests at that time."
"It was those considerations that the USA was guided by before the invasion of Vietnam," the Russian
president recalled. "The Soviet leadership, too, proceeded from their understanding of the Soviet Union's
political interests that existed at that period."
"However, whatever the decision-making process, the result is obvious: the Soviet Union found itself dragged
into a hopeless war, a war that dragged on for almost 10 years." [Passage omitted]
"It should also be admitted that the Afghan war promoted international terrorism. After all, ever since then the
international community has been forced to discuss, agree positions and help restore order in that unfortunate state and
to ensure, as far as possible, its peaceful and economically successful development," the president said. [Passage
omitted]
[ITAR-TASS news agency] |
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