Russia proposes NATO hold expert meeting on force withdrawal from Afghanistan
BRUSSELS. May 15 (Interfax) - The NATO-Russia Council discussed in Brussels on May 14 at the general staff level the prospects of ensuring security in Afghanistan after the withdrawal of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) from the country, General Staff Deputy Chief Col. Gen. Alexander Postnikov-Streltsov said.
"The Russian side has proposed to hold a meeting at the expert level dedicated to the exchange of experience we have in organizing the withdrawal of Soviet forces from Afghanistan," Postnikov-Streltsov told reporters.
"And we have asked them to share the accumulated experience on forms and methods of military actions against the Taliban, on what means they used. And we are naturally interested in how the cooperation of NATO servicemen and the country's leaders, regional heads and people was carried out at the stage of organizing post-conflict events, in other words how these relations were and are being built," Postnikov-Streltsov said.
"It would be desirable to know their opinion and to analyze their experience, to study it and, if needed, to possibly use it," Postnikov-Streltsov said.
When asked what exactly NATO partners were interested in regarding the withdrawal of Soviet forces from Afghanistan, the general said that "they are interested in many things, including what political, diplomatic, economic and military actions were taken at the stage of preparing for the withdrawal and during the withdrawal itself as well as during the post-conflict stage."
Postnikov-Streltsov said that "for now only the sides' intentions, including ours, to share such experience have been outlined and we have proposed during the work of experts of the two sides to pose all these questions and in particular to discuss them in more detail at the international conference for the European security in Moscow on May 23-24."
Russia closely links the situation in Afghanistan to the environment, which could form in Central Asia after the ISAF withdrawal starting from 2014, Postnikov-Streltsov said.
"We are closely watching this situation, analyzing and forecasting it and we are interested in it being stable," Postnikov-Streltsov said.
As of now, the plan of NATO actions after the withdrawal has not been specified yet that is why the Russian side is currently analyzing what the Alliance intends to do and how effective its actions will be, and then Russia will determine its stance and its actions, Postnikov-Streltsov said.
