Afghanistan Times
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KABUL: The Russian government is worried about the active presence of Daesh terrorist group as well as narcotics trade in Afghanistan.
Russian officials believe that these two threats pose Moscow from Afghan soil.
“We are in common opinion that Daesh group is a notable cause of insecurities in the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. We see this group seeking further influence in Afghanistan’s northern provinces to reach their activities to the Central Asia. We also expressed concerns over production and trade of drugs that finance terrorist groups. Unfortunately, Afghanistan produces 90 per cent of the world’s opium. We are interested in cooperating with the Afghan officials to remove this threat,” Sergey Lavrov, Russian Foreign Minister said at a press conference with his Afghan counterpart Hanif Atmar Saturday in Moscow.
The Daesh and other foreign groups’ activities in the northern provinces of Afghanistan are matter of concerns for the regional states.
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization lately called the number of Daesh fighters entering Afghanistan from Syria and Iraq, increasing.
The US military had earlier launched operations in the northeastern province of Badakhshan to eliminate extremist fighters.
The United Nations Office for Drugs and Crimes (UNODC) says that narcotics from Afghanistan are smuggled to Russia via Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
“Russia’s concerns on Daesh, security and narcotics are our concerns,” said Afghan foreign minister Atmar.
“If Taliban remain committed to a peace agreement, these concerns will be soon eliminated from our country.”
