Russia Ready To Engage With NATO On Afghanistan - Lavrov

Russia is ready to engage with NATO on Afghanistan and considers it responsible for rebuilding the country after decades of keeping boots on the ground, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Friday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 08th October, 2021) Russia is ready to engage with NATO on Afghanistan and considers it responsible for rebuilding the country after decades of keeping boots on the ground, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Friday.

"We are ready to cooperate with the United States, the European Union and NATO because NATO countries must bear a substantial � the main bulk of responsibility for rebuilding Afghanistan. They were there for 20 years building a state that does not exist," he said.

Lavrov told the Association of European business in Moscow that Russia was against NATO building military bases in the wider region to maintain what US President Joe Biden has been calling "over-the-horizon capabilities," which allow allies to strike targets without having military presence on the ground.

"We are against moving military assets from Afghanistan to Central Asian republics or placing new military assets there in order for them to be able to launch what Americans call 'over-the-horizon' strikes on Afghanistan," Lavrov said.

Biden has repeatedly boasted the Pentagon's ability to attack militants in Afghanistan after the troop pullout. This is despite an August 29 drone strike on the Afghan affiliate of the Islamic State terror group (banned in Russia) killing 10 civilians, including seven children, but no IS members.