The international forces in Afghanistan play a positive role but are not operating very effectively, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Friday at a meeting with members of the Valdai discussion club.
"We believe that the international forces are playing a positive role in Afghanistan. It must be said they are not acting very effectively, particularly from the point of view of the drug threat. But overall, definitely, they are playing a positive role," Putin said.
For that reason, Russia took the "unprecedented" step of allowing NATO transit of Russian air space and overland routes to Afghanistan.
