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Karzai says Afghanistan needs Russia’s support

18 August 2010 20:25 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. Afghan President Hamid Karzai sought President Dmitry Medvedev’s help for his nation on Wednesday, two decades after Moscow ended a disastrous conflict there that cost the lives of about 15,000 Soviet troops, APA reports quoting â€œReutersâ€.
Russia, which analysts say is seeking to increase its influence in Afghanistan and the surrounding region, hosted Karzai and Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari for talks on security and drugs.
"Let me once again thank you for your concern for Afghanistan," Karzai told Medvedev as they sat down for talks at the Russian president’s summer residence near the Black Sea.
"Afghanistan will need the support of friends and from great countries like Russia," Karzai said.
Medvedev held separate talks with Zardari and Tajikistan’s President Imomali Rakhmon as well as a four-way meeting with the visiting leaders.
Zardari urged the nations "to stand together and make the region come together and fight against this war of ideology ... We should support the Afghani people." He also invited Medvedev to Pakistan.
Russia traditionally has had far warmer ties with India than with Pakistan, but the Kremlin has been broadening its contacts across Asia and the Middle East as it seeks more clout. A similar four-way meeting was held last year in Tajikistan.
Medvedev said Russia has sent aid to help Pakistan cope with devastating flooding and is prepared to do more.
"Pakistan will come out of this a stronger nation," said Zardari, who has faced criticism at home for traveling abroad during the disaster.
Karzai conveyed the "sorrow" of the Afghan people over Russia’s deadly summer wildfires and said he hoped Medvedev would visit Afghanistan soon.
Medvedev assured Karzai that Russia supports Afghanistan’s efforts to establish peace and stability.
Russia "naturally supports the Afghan government’s fight against terrorism, and is ready to help in any way," he said.
MOSCOW’S DRUG CONCERN
Medvedev said trafficking in Afghan drugs, which are feeding a devastating drug abuse problem in Russia, "is an issue for all the countries in the region ... our actions should be synchronized."
Russia has sharply criticized the U.S. and NATO strategy for fighting Afghan drug production.
NATO earlier this year rejected Russian calls for the eradication of Afghan opium poppy fields, saying the best way for Moscow to help control the drug would be to give more assistance against the insurgency.
Russia has said it will not send soldiers to Afghanistan, where the Soviet Union fought a nearly decade-long war, but it has held out the prospect of supplying transport helicopters to aid the fight against insurgents.
Medvedev said the four leaders would discuss economic and energy cooperation. But there was no sign the summit produced any economic deal or significant new initiatives on security or drug trafficking.
Russia has called for a greater role in Afghanistan for two regional groups in which it holds sway -- the Collective Security Treaty Organization of ex-Soviet states (CSTO) and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), which includes China.
But analysts were skeptical.
Central Asia expert Alexei Malashenko told the Russian daily Kommersant on Wednesday that the CSTO’s pallid response to recent ethnic bloodshed in Kyrgyzstan suggested "its usefulness in Afghanistan will be nil."