Troop withdrawal proves failure of US' twenty-year-long mission in Afghanistan: Russian FM

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says the withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan means the United States has recognized the failure of its two-decades-long mission in the country.

"The United States is not merely withdrawing its troops from Afghanistan, it is doing that having actually recognized the failure of its twenty-year-long mission," Lavrov said during a lecture at the Far Eastern Federal University on Thursday.

Stressing that terrorist and drug threats have dramatically increased since the United States and its allies invaded Afghanistan in 2001, the top Russian diplomat said and added, “Notably, there are documents in the West indicating to the probability that US servicemen were involved in drug trafficking.”

Lavrov raised the alarm about looming threats posed by the Daesh terrorist group in the war-ravaged country and said the terrorist outfit was “deliberately pulling its forces in Afghanistan’s northern provinces bordering our allies.”

The US invaded Afghanistan in October 2001 under the pretext of the so-called war against terror. Washington has spent trillions of dollars waging war on the impoverished country, which has left thousands of Afghan civilians and American soldiers dead.

The US military contingent is expected to leave Afghanistan by September 11.

Last week, the American forces abandoned Bagram air base, the longtime staging ground for US military operations in the country, effectively ending Washington’s longest war.

US troops leave largest military base in Afghanistan after 20 years of failure

Bagram Military Base, which was once the epicenter of US military operations in Afghanistan, was on Friday formally handed over to the Afghan forces, according to reports

The US Central Command has announced that the American withdrawal from the country, ordered in April by President Joe Biden, is now more than 90 percent complete.

Since the US started the formal withdrawal of its forces from Afghanistan in May, Taliban militants have intensified attacks across the country. According to the Pentagon, they are now in control of more than 100 of Afghanistan’s 419 district centers.

Taliban's political office was reported by Russia's TASS news agency as saying that the militant group did not seek to seize power in Afghanistan militarily.

Afghan govt. vows to retake territory from Taliban, US pulls out 90% of troops, equipment

The Afghan government says it will retake all the territory that has been overrun by the Taliban, as the militants advance on the ground, capturing district after district, particularly in the north of Afghanistan.

Russia: Taliban assured Moscow it would respect human rights

Later on Thursday, the Russian Foreign Ministry said the Taliban's delegation, which arrived in Moscow earlier the same day, has given assurances that it would respect human rights, including those of women "within the framework of Islamic norms and Afghan traditions."

The ministry added that the Taliban have also assured Moscow that the group would not violate the borders of Central Asian states.

They also guaranteed, the Russian ministry noted, to maintain the security of foreign diplomatic and consular missions in Afghanistan.

The Russian Foreign Ministry statement added that the Taliban told Moscow the group wanted peace in Afghanistan through negotiations, and that it was committed to countering the threat posed to the war-torn country by the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group, while doing its best to stamp out heroine production.

UK troops withdrawn amid fears of intensified militancy in Afghanistan 

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced on Thursday that most British troops had been pulled out of Afghanistan.

"All British troops assigned to NATO's mission in Afghanistan are now returning home," Johnson said in a statement to parliament.

"For obvious reasons, I will not disclose the timetable of our departure, though I can tell the house (parliament) that most of our personnel have already left."

Boris Johnson doubtful of Afghanistan's future following withdrawal of most British troops

Boris Johnson was at pains to admit that he feels "apprehensive" about the future of Afghanistan following the evacuation of the British troop after 20 years of deployment to the war-torn country.

UK military chief: Afghanistan on path to civil war

Speaking after Johnson’s announcement, the head of Britain's armed forces warned there is the possibility that Afghanistan could be on a path to civil war as American and other foreign troops leave.

Nick Carter, Britain's Chief of the Defense Staff, said it was "plausible" that the country's state would collapse without international forces there.

Afghanistan could see a situation like the country's 1990s civil war "where you would see a culture of warlordism and you might see some of the important institutions like security forces fracturing along ethnic, or for that matter, tribal lines," Carter said.

"If that were to happen, I guess the Taliban would control part of the country. But, of course, they would not control all of the country."

British forces were first deployed to Afghanistan in 2001 after the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States. A total of 457 British soldiers were killed in the country.

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