Ex-Official In Ghani Gov't Urges US, Russia To Contain Terrorist Threat From Afghanistan

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 17th August, 2022) The United States and Russia must work together to create an "anti-radicalism belt" in northern Afghanistan that would prevent terrorist spillover, Abdullah Khenjani, a former senior deputy minister at the Afghan ministry for peace that was disbanded after the Taliban takeover, told Sputnik.

"Russia should cooperate with the United States to build an anti-terrorism and anti-radicalism belt in the north of Afghanistan in coordination with Central Asian republics and anti-Talib elements in Afghanistan," he said.

The former official in President Ashraf Ghani's administration said Afghanistan became a safe haven for dozens of jihadist groups after the Taliban (under UN sanctions for terrorism) took over Kabul on August 15, 2021.

"Afghanistan situation needs an urgent international covert negotiation between the United States and the major regional powers," the independent geopolitical consultant said.

A 2020 pact between the Taliban and Washington explicitly banned the insurgency from harboring terrorists in Afghanistan. That commitment was reneged on after the US announced the killing of Ayman al-Zawahiri, leader of al-Qaida (banned in Russia), in central Kabul in July.