'Catastrophe': Russia asks US to admit its military effort in Afghanistan was 'failure'

The Russian embassy in the US said that the American government must accept that the military effort in Afghanistan was a failure, bringing nothing but 'agony' and the collapse of 'false ambitions' to the Asian country. According to a statement issued on August 31 by the Russian embassy in Washington, the US military campaign in Afghanistan concluded a year ago, and the consequences of the longest war in US history are dismal.

TASS reported, the embassy wrote on Telegram, "The humanitarian catastrophe is unfolding in Afghanistan a year later, threatening to become even more lethal scalewise than 20 years of military conflict were. We are convinced that Washington should admit that the Afghan war ended in defeat for the United States. Moreover, it brought nothing but troubles and the collapse of false hopes to the Asian state."

The Russian embassy also mentioned that the terrorist organization Al Qaeda (which is forbidden in Russia) had a presence in Afghanistan. It went on to say that US' military effort turned out to be a catastrophe for ordinary Afghans. According to government figures, more than 150,000 Afghans were killed, including 48,000 civilians, and another 75,000 were injured. Hundreds of thousands of people have become refugees, the embassy claimed.

The statement further read, "With the connivance of the authorities of the Islamic Republic and their Western partners, ISIS and other terrorist groups have taken root on Afghan territory. Drug production has increased tenfold, turning Afghanistan into a narco-state."

Russia asks US to repay the money seized from Afghans

Meanwhile, during the UN Security Council debate on Afghanistan, Russia's Permanent Representative to the UN, Vasily Nebenzya, asked his American counterpart, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, to repay the money seized from the Afghan people rather than insisting that other countries pay for their debts.

It is worth noting that during the meeting, Thomas-Greenfield stated that Russia's financial contribution to Afghanistan's reconstruction is insufficient. "The cynicism of the US' claims that Russia and China do nothing but talk is simply shocking," Nebenzya said. The envoy stated that Russia is being asked to pay for the country's reconstruction, which has been effectively damaged by the US and NATO's 20-year occupation.