Klintsevich suggests U.S., Russia call int'l conference on Afghanistan
MOSCOW. July 10 (Interfax) - Washington and Moscow should call an international conference to resolve the problem of Afghanistan, Russian Federation Council committee on defense and security deputy head Franz Klintsevich said.
"First of all, in my view, the United States and Russia should call for an international conference on Afghanistan involving the top officials of the relevant countries that would help re-think the entire Afghan experience of the past 30-40 years," the press service of Klintsevich quoted him as saying on Monday.
Russia and the U.S. "are just destined for close interaction in Afghanistan," Klintsevich said, commenting on U.S. Senator John McCain's statement that the U.S. is losing the war in Afghanistan as it does not have a strategy.
"I cannot fail to agree with the senator. The main reason for the U.S. defeats in Afghanistan is the absence of a strategy. And it is unlikely that one should chalk it up to the 'mess' in today's White House. The Americans have been in Afghanistan for over 15 years," Klintsevich said.
The issue is not only about Afghanistan, he said.
"U.S. actions in Iran, Libya and now in Syria are also marked by the absence of strategy, if one understands it as an interconnected solution to the entire range of the Middle East settlement issue, rather than as the achievement of suspicious one-time successes," he said.
Klintsevich believes that the failures of the Soviet Union at the final stage of the Afghan war in the second half of the 1980s were caused by the loss of a strategic perspective. "The Soviet leadership then just didn't know what to do in Afghanistan next, and therefore they decided to leave the country altogether. Good advice is now dear to the Americans in Afghanistan," Klintsevich said.
