... could merely remain a favorable opportunity for NATO bureaucrats to pretend the alliance still matters, whereby the renewed Russian military doctrine is not that bad. NATO is the number one threat. Anyone surprised?
2. Shall the Islamic State survive?... ... back at best. At worst, one can fail as the U.S. did in Vietnam. You just cannot combat these guys from the sky!
3. Whither Afghanistan?
Well, it's pretty simple. A president of Kabul is not a president of Afghanistan. Almost entire south-east ...
... organization's main driving force and generator of ideas. It is no coincidence that on the eve of the Dushanbe Summit it was Russia that compiled and presented its partners with the draft SCO Medium-term Development Strategy through 2025 to be adopted ... ... 2015.
The event participants held extensive bilateral and multilateral exchanges on key regional and global issues, including: Afghanistan, the Middle East, North Africa and regions neighboring the SCO. Unfortunately, the documents adopted did not reflect ...
... Ambassador Vitaly Vorobyov
Interview
We met with Vitaly Vorobyov, SCO Advisor and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, to discuss the potential of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in resolving problems of regional security, its role in Afghanistan after the withdrawal of ISAF, the Silk Way project initiated by China, Russia's future SCO presidency and many other issues.
Your Excellency, in your article "
The SCO as the Growing Ruler of the Heartland: How to Bring Eurasia's Most Promising Organization to a New High
", you paint the future of the SCO in fairly ...
... catalyst for the activities of Russia and the CSTO in Central Asia. Russia has already responded to this challenge by combining security and military aid with expanding economic aid and cooperation with partners in Central Asia.
As for the situation inside Afghanistan, Russia’s role and influence are limited and will remain so. No one, even Russia’s partners in the region, and nothing, even the colossal scale of the drug threat coming out of Afghanistan, can draw Russia into establishing a direct presence ...
... over the office.
Hasty Withdrawal
Without any foreign military presence Mr. Karzai’s corrupt and unpopular regime will last only months or weeks against the Taliban offensive.
Another blunder seems to lie in the hasty withdrawal of forces. Many Russian historians and Afghanistan campaign veterans feel that, in 1989, the Soviet Union was too eager to fulfill its obligations to the West and failed to calculate the consequences of its actions for the friendly regime in Kabul (
1
,
2
,
3
). In fact, in leaving Afghanistan,...
... the neighboring region. India will never give up on its quest to be a stakeholder in Afghan affairs but I believe the Russians realize this well that without Pakistan, there is no definitive peace in the region. The wide range of issues connected to Afghanistan which Pakistan and Russia have started to discuss, include the drug trade (narcotics), terrorism and ISAF-NATO supply-routes (logistics). Pakistan too, on its part, has come to understand that although it is wise to keep India well at bay from Afghan affairs post withdrawal,...
... organization.
How are Russia and India cooperating in maintaining regional security at this stage?
As to cooperation between Russia and India in the field of security in the region, our interaction is deep-rooted. Even before the coalition forces entered Afghanistan, the Northern Alliance enjoyed joint support from India and Russia. This is an important factor. The experience of such interaction exists. The SCO today has the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS), which is very important for India, a country which suffers from terrorism. Then there is the factor of Pakistan,...
... the continent. This is the main reason along with so many others that international interests have been attempting and struggling for their presence and outreach there. It is also one of the important most sources of the much hounded energy resources. Russia – Afghanistan relations have remained on the positive note since the period of Tzar, which further developed into better ties after the October revolution. Being a historical partner of Afghanistan, writes Monika Pawar in her article ‘Russia’s ...
... now considered as a possible partnership resource in the fight against common threats, for example cyber security, may develop into another sphere of mutual deterrence and “adequate responses”.
The Afghanistan 2014 Factor
Cooperation on Afghanistan remains a strategic area of cooperation between Russia and NATO. But there is still a lot of uncertainty and challenges. It is extremely important for Russia to have an idea of the future structure of U.S. and NATO presence in Afghanistan and Central Asia, as well as new modalities of international ...
... The implementation of other collaborative projects cannot be excluded, e.g. scaling up metal works in Karachi and cooperation on security using the growing potential of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and the “Dushanbe four” (Russia, Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan).
The future of Afghanistan, which has been home to forces from the US and their NATO allies (UK, Canada, the Netherlands, France etc) since 2001 now depends on the plans in Washington and Brussels to transfer full responsibility ...
