President of Russia Vladimir Putin spoke out against deployment of American troops in Afghanistan’s neighboring countries during a meeting with U.S. leader Joe Biden in Geneva. The Wall Street Journal reports, citing senior American and Russian officials.
The author of the article, Michael Gordon, believes that in this way the Kremlin seeks to maintain its position in the Central Asian states.
As the media outlet writes, now the Americans will have to use military bases in Qatar and ships located in the Persian Gulf, which significantly increases the cost of operations.
Sources claim that Vladimir Putin drew the attention of his American counterpart to the inadmissibility of the presence of soldiers in Central Asia.
Previously, the United States used bases in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, but left them in 2005 and 2014, respectively.
The situation in Afghanistan escalated after the announcement of the withdrawal of American troops in the spring of 2021. The radical Taliban movement launched an offensive against the positions of the Afghan army and established control over the entire territory of the country on August 15. President Ashraf Ghani has stepped down from office.
