- Sputnik International
Asia
Find top stories and features from Asia and the Pacific region. Keep updated on major political stories and analyses from Asia and the Pacific. All you want to know about China, Japan, North and South Korea, India and Pakistan, Southeast Asia and Oceania.

Russia Bewildered at Afghanistan Expecting Apologies for Soviet Campaign

© Sputnik / V. Kiselev / Go to the mediabankGradual withdrawal of limited contingent of Soviet forces from the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan). A column of armored vehicles crosses the Afghan-Soviet border on the Friendship Bridge over the Amu Darya River.
Gradual withdrawal of limited contingent of Soviet forces from the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan). A column of armored vehicles crosses the Afghan-Soviet border on the Friendship Bridge over the Amu Darya River. - Sputnik International
Subscribe
MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Afghanistan's statement that Russia should apologize to the Afghan people for the decade-long Soviet military operation in Afghanistan "raises nothing but surprise and bewilderment," Russian Foreign Ministry's Second Asian Department Director Zamir Kabulov told Sputnik on Wednesday.

"The Soviet government recognized the new leadership in Afghanistan and was developing normal relations with it. The troops were deployed later, as a result of actions against that leadership. The statement [on Afghanistan expecting apologies] raises nothing but surprise and bewilderment," Kabulov said, adding that Russia will not apologize to anyone.

READ MORE: US Troops Unlikely to Leave Afghanistan Despite Negotiations with Taliban
US and NATO soldiers take part in a ceremony to commemorate the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center in New York, in Resolute Support 'Green Zone' headquarters of Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, Sept. 11, 2017 - Sputnik International
Afghan Journalist: UK Troops Deployment Raises Mission Effectiveness Questions
Earlier in the day, Afghan Ambassador to Russia Abdul Qayyum Kochai said that the Afghan people want apologies for what he called were mistakes of the Soviet government in Afghanistan, including Moscow's recognition of the communist leadership and the military campaign that started in December 1979.
The offensive was dubbed a Cold War proxy conflict, with the Soviet army fighting US-backed militants in an attempt to ensure that the communist government led by Nur Mohammad Taraki stayed in power after the 1978 coup. Soviet forces eventually left Afghanistan in early 1989.
Newsfeed
0
To participate in the discussion
log in or register
loader
Chats
Заголовок открываемого материала