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KABUL: Russia has blamed the United States for the political crisis in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan is weathering a deep crisis over bitter political divisions between its two leaders squabbling over presidency since September election results. Now, Russia is pointing fingers at the White House for the turmoil.
Kremlin has heaped scorns at Washington for stoking the flames of political polarization in Afghanistan by endorsing one of the two presidential candidates after announcement of the fraud-riddled election outcome months ago – which pushed the country to the brink.
In a tweet, Russian foreign ministry hinted at a U.S. attempt to circumvent barriers facing the long-awaited intra-Afghan peace talks, but insinuating that the United States “played a part in the current aggravation of the political standoff in Kabul by de facto recognising one of the presidential election candidates as the winner”.
Tensions remain high on political level following the controversial announcement of presidential elections and parallel presidential inaugurations by both Ghani and Abdullah.
These insinuations about a U.S. conspiracy behind Afghanistan’s crisis comes amid a repetitive U.S. warnings over Afghan leaders to deal with their disagreements. It speaks volumes about influence of the U.S. in Afghan politics.
Reacting to the tensions, Washington announced late last month that it is cutting $1 billion in aid to Afghanistan, warning that a further reduction of $1 billion would follow if the tensions are not resolved.
The Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived in Kabul on an unannounced visit late in March amid growing tensions political level in Afghanistan.
Citing a former senior official and foreign diplomat, the NBC News reported that Pompeo delivered a message from Trump to the feuding leadership of the Afghan government, telling them they should resolve their differences and broker a deal with the Taliban or the president could not only cut $1 billion in financial aid to Afghanistan but also could pull all U.S. troops out of the country.
This is as an Abdullah Abdullah’s aide has said a plan is under review to form a partnership government with Mohammad Ashraf Ghani. Last week, Bashir Ahmad Tahyanj said the key members of the electoral team of Abdullah will review the plan which will later be presented to Ghani. He said the plan has been prepared based on the repeated request of the international community, specifically the United States.
