Destabilised Afghanistan threat to region, says Lavrov

KABUL: Russia’s top diplomat Sergey Lavrov said Russia is attempting to prevent the spillover of terrorism from Afghanistan into other countries.

Speaking with a state-owned television channel, Rossiya 24, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said it is the main task of Russia to prevent the destabilization of Central Asian allies after the Taliban took power in Afghanistan in August. Lavrov emphasized that the stability of Central Asian countries is a priority for Russia. “The main thing for us is their stability, since we do not have borders with our Central Asian allies, there is visa-free regime with almost everyone,” Lavrov said.

Sergey Lavrov further said that it is necessary to suppress the threats inside Afghanistan. “This is the necessity to prevent destabilization of neighboring countries and the influx of terrorist and drug threats from Afghanistan, the necessity to nip these threats in the bud inside Afghanistan,” he added.

The Ministry of Interior said Afghanistan’s soil is not being used to threaten security of any country, and the Islamic Emirate is committed to strictly combatting the drug trade.