Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the United Nations

Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the United Nations

Statement by Ambassador Vassily A. Nebenzia, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the United Nations, at the Security Council meeting on Afghanistan

We thank Mr. Tadamichi Yamamoto, Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), for his analysis of the processes currently under way in Afghanistan.

We are also grateful for the briefings by Mr. Yury Fedotov, Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Ambassador Kairat Umarov, in his capacity as Chair of the Committee established pursuant to resolution 1988 (2011), and Ms. Ghizaal Haress.

We listened attentively to the statement by Mr. Mahmoud Saikal, Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, and we share many of the opinions in the latest quarterly report of the Secretary-General (S/2018/1092). For its part, Russia has the following comments to make. The Russian Federation strongly and consistently supports the Afghan people in their desire for a lasting peace in their country.

Russia and Afghanistan are traditionally linked through friendly relations that correspond to the national interests of both countries and contribute to the stable, multidimensional development of the entire region and the world generally. The international Ministerial Conference on Afghanistan in Geneva, in which Russia was a high-level participant, shows how important peace and stability in Afghanistan are to the international community.

We have been monitoring the tense and unfortunately continually deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan, a trend that has also been accompanied by civilian casualties in the Afghan national security forces, and we want to pay tribute to the memory and courage of all who have died in the fight against terrorism. We are still seriously concerned about the strengthened position of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), which is filling its ranks mainly by recruiting foreign fighters with combat experience in Syria and Iraq.

The militants remain true to their goal of increasing their numbers and strengthening their influence across the country. We are alarmed by the regular occurrence of major acts of terrorism in various cities in Afghanistan, including Kabul, whose victims are Afghan civilians, including women and children. The adherents of ISIL skilfully combine their ideological, propaganda and recruitment activities with their use of information and communications technology. The jihadists’ expansionist aspirations, including in northern Afghanistan, are a genuine threat to the security of our Central Asian partners and Russia’s southern regions.

We want to emphasize that it is unacceptable to belittle or downplay the threats emanating from ISIL in Afghanistan. We await answers to our repeated questions regarding the transportation of ISIL militants in mysterious unidentified helicopters. We are closely monitoring the evolving situation in the fight against drug trafficking. The drug threat represents a serious problem for the region, the world and Afghanistan itself.

We remain committed to providing assistance to collective action to combat Afghan drug trafficking, including with the active participation of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. We must maintain our joint policy of expanding the international community’s efforts in the fight against this evil. The practical steps we are taking, including through the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), are also in line with that approach.

Russia remains willing to provide regular assistance to the global Paris Pact Initiative, established under the auspices of UNODC to comprehensively combat the illicit traffic in opiates from Afghanistan, to the UNODC Regional Programme for Afghanistan and Neighbouring Countries and to the alternative development project in Badakhshan province. We intend to continue contributing to the training of narcotics police from Afghanistan, Pakistan and the countries of Central Asia.

We hope that our Domodedovo joint project with Japan, which aims to create a canine unit service for Afghanistan, will be an important component of the war against drugs there. We are concerned about the data in the SecretaryGeneral’s report on the increase in the number of civilian casualties, including as a result of the international coalition’s activities, as well as the level of losses among the Afghan national security forces in the current season.

We regret to have to conclude that the 17-year large-scale military presence of United States and NATO contingents has not led to the stabilization of the military and political situation in the country. The challenges have only got worse. Afghanistan is on the threshold of important political events, including the upcoming elections. As friends of the Afghan people, we assume that they should constitute a step towards the country’s unity and lasting stability. There can be no military solution to the crisis in Afghanistan. The only path to resolving it is through the achievement of a common Afghan agreement reached by political and diplomatic means.

We believe the negotiation process should be conducted under the leadership of the Afghans themselves. We affirm our readiness to provide all possible support to launching it. That was the goal guiding us when we convened a second meeting under the Moscow consultations format on 9 November.

We regard that event as a major step towards developing a genuinely functioning collective approach to resolving the situation in Afghanistan and the start of direct inter-Afghan dialogue. We emphasize the importance of the regional context for the Afghan settlement, and we want to particularly highlight the mechanism of the SCOAfghanistan Contact Group in that regard.

We see good potential for enhancing cooperation on counterterrorism and anti-drug efforts between Afghanistan and the CSTO and recognize UNAMA’s important role in coordinating international assistance to Afghanistan. What is happening in Afghanistan confirms that its accumulated problems require consolidated efforts.

Close international cooperation is now more vital than ever, especially at the regional level, in order to transform Afghanistan into a land of sustainable peace, stability and prosperity. We are ready to continue working to achieve this goal.