Russian President Vladimir Putin, during a meeting at the June 16 summit with President Biden, opposed any role for U.S. forces in Central Asian countries, senior U.S. officials said. Russians, who downplayed the U.S. military’s efforts to take action against new terrorist dangers following its withdrawal from Afghanistan.
The previously unreported exchange between Russian and American leaders has complicated the U.S. military’s options to base drones and other counterterrorism forces in countries bordering Afghanistan. This challenge has deepened with the collapse over the weekend of the Afghan government and armed forces.
The exchange also indicates that Moscow is more determined to try to keep Central Asia as a sphere of influence than to expand cooperation with a new US president over the turmoil in Afghanistan, former and current northern officials said. -americans.
“The Russians have no interest in returning to the United States,” said Paul Goble, a former State Department expert in Eurasia.
The U.S. requirement of what the Pentagon calls an “off-the-horizon” counterterrorism capability in Afghanistan has grown substantially in recent days with the Taliban acquisition.