Putin says US troops withdrawal ‘creates many risks’

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said the continued presence of American troops in Afghanistan is beneficial for overall security and that a troop withdrawal “creates many risks”.

“Initially, we backed US forces’ presence in Afghanistan and earlier voted in favor of a respective UN Security Council resolution. I still believe that US presence in Afghanistan does not run counter to our external interests,” Russia’s TASS news agency reported. 

“On the contrary, when it was announced that the Americans are preparing to withdraw their military contingent – yes, our official position is that maybe this creates additional conditions for a kind of Afghan reconciliation – but I personally think that this creates many risks,” Putin said.

“First, we will have to spend more to maintain stability and second, no matter what, still US presence in Afghanistan contributes to stability in the country and their exit creates risks,” he said. 

Putin said the two countries were “cooperating” with each other.

According to Putin, the US share data on anti-terror with Russia. “We view the Americans’ effort in Afghanistan as an anti-terrorist effort,” Putin stressed.

“They hand over and repeatedly handed over [data] to us. I thanked incumbent President [Donald Trump] because information that we received from America helped us prevent several terrorist acts in Russia,” Putin said.

“In our turn, we are trying to do the same and we have such an agreement with the incumbent US president that if this information emerges, we will share it and help each other.”.