Global Security: in Search of a New Vision - Center for Strategic ...

Chapter 14
Russia's Support for NATO in Afghanistan: Some Issues
Lieutenant General Evgeniy Buzhinsky 1
Alot has been said about the impor tance of con flict set tle ment and espe cially about Afghan i stan’s
set tle ment. Allow me to add a Rus sian per spec tive on the set tle ment of Afghan i stan because,
to my mind, that is the most dif fi cult prob lem to solve.
SUPPORTING NATO OPERATIONS IN AFGHANISTAN
We under stand that a coun ter-ter ror ist oper a tion in Afghan i stan has key sig nif i cance for NATO. To
some extent, it is a test of NATO’s abil ity to cor re spond to the global role it wants to play. We believe that
the pres ence of inter na tional forces in Afghan i stan and oper a tions per formed there are very impor tant
for the secu rity of Rus sia as well. We also real ize that if the Alli ance’s oper a tion fails and extrem ists come
back to power in Kabul, the con se quences will be hard to predict.
Destabilization of Rus sia’s cen tral Asian neigh bors would cre ate a dan ger ous con flict poten tial along
the south ern bor der of our coun try. That is why Rus sia sup ported this NATO oper a tion from the very
begin ning and sup ports pro long ing the inter na tional secu rity assis tance forces in Afghan i stan, which are
an impor tant com po nent of the inter na tional com mu nity’s efforts to restore peace and sta bil ity in the
coun try. In spite of the fact that the Rus sian Fed er a tion does not par tic i pate in Afghan i stan oper a tions
directly, our coun try is ready to con tinue ren der ing all pos si ble sup port to ISAF and the Afghanistan
national army as well.
As I said at the ini tial stage of the oper a tion, we pro vided our U.S. part ners with all the infor ma tion we
had, includ ing maps of mine fields, and we also helped to equip forces of the North ern Alli ance. I now
repeat that there are no plans to send Rus sian mil i tary to Afghan i stan because of under stand able rea sons.
At the same time, we will assist post-war res to ra tion of the coun try and par tic i pate in solv ing its social
and eco nomic prob lems as well as pre vent the devel op ment of interna tional ter ror ism and the spread of
drugs.
1
Lieutenant General Evgeniy Buzhinsky is the Deputy Chief of the Main Directorate for Military Cooperation in the Russian
Federation Ministry of Defense.