Last month, Afghani president Hamid Karzai visited Russia on an invitation from Russian president Dmitry Medvedev. The purpose of the visit was to discuss the relationship between the two countries and possibly form some sort of deal where Russia lends its military training and equipment to Afghanistan. Having previously been enemies, this agreement to meet is a major accomplishment. After the war between the Soviet Union and Afghanistan in the 1980’s, relations between Afghanistan and Russia were not positive. However, since the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, relations between Afghanistan and Russia have been improving.
Karzai arrived in Moscow with “a large delegation of ministers and business leaders” and he was set to meet with Medvedev as well as other prominent “members of the Russian business community”.[1] The reasons for Karzai’s visit were to possibly acquire Russian military equipment and training for Afghan military forces, as mentioned earlier, as well as to investigate potential economic opportunities between the two nations. Karzai also agreed to meet with Medvedev for the purpose of ensuring stability in Afghanistan once the U.S. troops leave the country, which is supposedly planned to take place in 2014. Considering the fact that Afghanistan is in such an unstable state, and has been for so long, it makes sense that the government would attempt to reach out to its (powerful) neighbors for support.
However, it appears that the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan was not included in these talks and was not even consulted about them and is therefore unhappy about the situation. It is also possible that the U.S. is bothered by the strengthening relationship between Afghanistan and Russia because during the Soviet invasion in the eighties, America gave their support to the Afghan resistance movement which cost hundreds of thousands of lives. The main reason for disquiet though would be the fact that the U.S. coalition in Afghanistan was not consulted prior to or during the talks in Russia.
It does make sense that Afghanistan would want to reach out to its neighbors for alliances and support since the U.S. coalition will eventually leave the country. Afghanistan does not want to rely on one country alone, especially if that country is much farther away. Forming an alliance with Russia gives Afghanistan an alternative, and it helps that Russia is close by. In fact, since November (2010), Russia has been sending military weapons and supplies to Afghanistan and has even made an agreement with NATO that allows this transport.
I have not found any articles that discuss the outcome of those talks in Russia between Karzai and Medvedev, but the fact that they met and seem to be improving relations between their countries says a lot.
[1]NA. Karzai Visit to Russia Irks U.S. http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2011/01/201112014297833879.html
Link to the article I read:
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2011/01/201112014297833879.html
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-01/21/c_13701987.htm
Fatima, glad you're reading sources from around the world (Al Jazeera and a Chinese source). Also, very interesting what you have to say about Karzai's meeting with Russia. I wonder what else we could find out about Afghanistan's relations with other neighboring countries. A few important ones to understand would be India, Pakistan, Iran, and China.
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