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Afghanistan/South Asia
Afghans reject Russian charge on “terrorist” camps
2005-06-27
KABUL - Afghanistan’s US-backed government rejected on Sunday charges by Russia that Moscow’s Central Asian allies are being targeted by militants trained in Afghanistan.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday that ”terrorist bases” run by the Taleban movement, which ruled Afghanistan before a US-led invasion in 2001, and unspecified ”foreign spy services”, were still operational. Speaking after talks with NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, Lavrov said radicals from ex-Soviet Uzbekistan and Russia were involved in training guerrillas at bases located in Afghanistan and border areas of Pakistan.

In a statement, Afghanistan’s Foreign Ministry said it had noted Lavrov’s remarks with “deep regret”. “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan strongly rejects claims regarding the presence of terrorist training camps in Afghanistan and considers such allegations as totally baseless,” it said. “The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, a victim of terrorism itself, is on the frontline of the war against terrorism and is committed to continue the fight to remove this international menace.

“Afghanistan expects countries of the region to sincerely join in the efforts to eliminate terrorist elements,” it added.

Lavrov said last week Moscow had information that militants were periodically delivered from Afghanistan to the Ferghana Valley, a restive region shared by Uzbekistan, ex-Soviet Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
Hard to imagine this could happen without our knowing about it; hard to imagine we'd know about it and not put a violent stop to it.
Russia has long said that the Taleban financed the separatist movement in its southern region of Chechnya and helped to train Chechen guerrillas. Moscow backed the US-led invasion in Afghanistan in 2001 partly because it wanted to put an end to what it believed was a safe haven for radicals fomenting unrest in its predominantly Muslim regions.

On Thursday, Putin complained that the effectiveness of the US force in Afghanistan was “extremely low”, according to reports from Russian news agencies.
The Russian tradition in Afghanistan being what it is.
Posted by:Steve White

#6  Maybe they'd be good enough to give us the location of one of these camps? Surely, they could pull out a few fingernails, or wave around some bacon, to get some information....
Posted by: Bobby   2005-06-27 10:31  

#5  Why do I get the feeling we're in Phase 2 of the Cold War?
Posted by: Pappy   2005-06-27 10:03  

#4  A massive attack on the USA won't get Hillary elected. It has to be her worst fear. She's hoping for peace until the next election.

Democrats only do well in crisis they manufacture themselves - not in real ones.
Posted by: 2b   2005-06-27 09:32  

#3  "Foreign spy services": read, Dubya and the US of A, aka the Left-alleged "world's greatest terror state", sub-read "Will someone, anyone, please attack the USA and cause massive casualties so Hillary can be POTUS, and America under OWG and SWO'!?
Posted by: JosephMendiola   2005-06-27 02:39  

#2  Well, our supply lines to Afghanistan pass through former Soviet states for something like 1000-2000 miles. Maybe longer? So he'd have a massive advantage to start with. We'd have to fly stuff through Pakistan (assuming we still had permission).
Posted by: Phil Fraering   2005-06-27 00:48  

#1  The Russian tradition in Afghanistan being what it is.

You don't think Putin is thinking about a rematch in Afghanistan do you?
Posted by: Charles   2005-06-27 00:32  

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