Russia's foreign minister said that the United States and its allies fled Afghanistan after 20 years of "occupation”, but today they still want to "interfere" in the country's situation.
Sergey Lavrov said that the United States and its allies are seeking to resume a military presence in Central Asia.
"The United States and its allies, who fled Afghanistan after 20 years of occupation, today want to interfere in the fragile process of stabilising the situation in the country and are inventing excuses to resume their military presence in Central Asian countries," he said on Thursday, October 31, at the International Eurasian Security Conference in Minsk, Belarus.
Sergey Lavrov did not provide further details. However, following its withdrawal from Afghanistan, the US government had said that it would monitor the activities of terrorist groups in Afghanistan "with aerial surveillance and reconnaissance”.
Under the plan, the US military in the region has strengthened its ability to monitor, control, and, if necessary, strike terrorists.
Earlier, the Taliban's defence minister had said in a televised interview that the group was trying to prevent foreign planes from patrolling Afghanistan's airspace. Mullah Yaqoob had said that Afghanistan's airspace was still under "occupation".
The Taliban has accused Pakistan of allowing US planes to enter Afghan territory. There have been reports of US drones patrolling the skies over Kandahar, Kapisa, Kabul, Badakhshan, Panjshir, Nimroz, Herat and some other provinces of Afghanistan.
Referring to the role of the United States in the political developments of various countries, Sergey Lavrov said, "As a result of the aggressive actions of the United States, NATO and the European Union, the risks of the fragmentation of our continent have increased."
