Russia calls for continued probe into US, NATO ‘war crimes’ in Afghanistan

Russia’s representative at the UN Human Rights Council session in Geneva on Monday called for continued investigations into war crimes by the US and NATO in Afghanistan.

Addressing the council’s 53rd Session, Russian diplomat Yaroslav Yeryomin said: “The international community needs to remember about the war crimes that the US and NATO militaries committed during their 20-year-long presence in Afghanistan.

“We believe that it is important to continue the work to collect information and expose the crimes committed by the US and NATO in Afghanistan, as well as to make them public,” he said.

TASS news agency reported that Yeryomin stressed that attempts by the US and its allies to politicize humanitarian assistance to the Afghan people and link it to the implementation of some obligations were unacceptable. “Facilitating stability and security remains Russia’s priority on the Afghan track,” Yeryomin noted.

“Moscow is confident that “only long-term peace in Afghanistan will contribute to the favorable development of the entire region,” he said.

“We have been calling on the interim Afghan government to fulfill its promise to form an inclusive system of government, taking into account the interests of key ethnic and political groups, boosting the fight against terrorism and drug trafficking and ensuring the basic rights and freedoms of the country’s people,” Yeryomin said.