Since President Donald Trump took office in 2017, progressives and their corporate media allies have continually pretended that he is a Russian asset who is doing the bidding of Russian President Vladimir Putin. However, the Russian leader isn’t too happy about Trump’s decision to end the war in Afghanistan. 

During an interview on Sunday, Putin stated that he opposes a U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan because it poses “many risks” for the region’s security. He indicated that it might require the Kremlin to invest more in the area. 

The Russian leader noted that U.S. military presence in Afghanistan ensures security and does not conflict with Moscow’s interests. “Initially, we backed U.S. forces’ presence in Afghanistan and earlier voted in favor of a respective U.N. Security Council resolution,” Putin explained. “I still believe that the U.S. presence in Afghanistan does not run counter to our external interests.”

He continued:

“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.

First, we will have to spend more to maintain stability and second, no matter what, still U.S. presence in Afghanistan contributes to stability in the country and their exit creates risks. We don’t have to fight against the Americans’ presence there.”

Putin indicated that the U.S.’ willingness to share intelligence with Russian security forces has helped to prevent acts of domestic terrorism. He noted that Russia is routinely subject to jihadist attacks carried out by Islamic extremists. 

“We view the Americans’ effort in Afghanistan as an anti-terrorist effort. They hand over and repeatedly handed over data to us,” Putin said. “I thanked incumbent President [Donald Trump] because the information that we received from America helped us prevent several terrorist acts in Russia. In our turn, we are trying to do the same and we have such an agreement with the incumbent U.S. president that if this information emerges, we will share it and help each other.”

This month, President Trump declared that he intends to bring the rest of America’s soldiers serving in Afghanistan back home by Christmas. This would completely end almost 20 years of military operations in the country. 

Trump’s announcement came after negotiations with the Taliban to remove U.S. troops from the region. 

This is yet another step that Trump has taken that goes directly against the wishes of the Russian president. The two leaders have butted heads on a number of issues, especially when it comes to military operations in Syria. 

But the more important factor here is the fact that if Trump follows through on his promise, it will mark the end of a military conflict that has persisted for nearly two decades. The president repeatedly vowed to end America’s involvement in “endless” and “unnecessary” wars, and this would mark yet another foreign policy victory for the administration. 

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