A Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman has described NATO’s vow to “fight terrorism” while simultaneously abandoning military equipment to the Taliban as like something straight out of the comedy film ‘Police Academy’.
The cutting comments were made by Maria Zakharova, who has been the director of the Information and Press Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation since August 2015.
Zakharova cited the Norwegian politician Jens Stoltenberg, who has been the secretary general of NATO since 2014, who announced last week: “We will not allow terrorists to threaten us again from Afghanistan.”
She then cited a report from the Pentagon which stated that it did not know how much weaponry and equipment had fallen into the Taliban’s hands following the US military withdrawal from the country.
A US official who preferred to remain anonymous told Reuters in an article published last week: “Everything that hasn’t been destroyed is the Taliban’s now.”
Zakharova said the comments were “like a comic monologue from Police Academy” before going on to criticise NATO, describing it as “a volatile and destructive military-political bloc” that “has lost its bearings and control, even over itself, while claiming to play a role in international security”.
‘Police Academy’ is a 1984 American comedy film about a group of well-meaning but incompetent misfits that enters an unnamed police academy.
Though Russia designates the Taliban as a terrorist organisation, Moscow has been criticised for its contact-building and cordiality with the group.
According to a BBC report from last week, Russian diplomats described the country’s new de facto rulers as “normal guys” and said Kabul was now safer than before.
Archive Story: Putin Warns That Taliban Fighters And Extremists Could Be Slipping Across Borders Disguised As Refugees
President Vladimir Putin’s special envoy to Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov, has even been accused by the outgoing Afghan government as being an open supporter of the Taliban.
The US Secretary of State under the Donald Trump presidency, Rex Tillerson, accused Russia in August 2017 of supplying arms to the Taliban, which Russia denied.
To find out more about the author, editor or agency that supplied this story – please click below.
Story By: William McGee, Sub-Editor: James King, Agency: Newsflash
The Ananova page is created by and dedicated to professional, independent freelance journalists. It is a place for us to showcase our work. When our news is sold to our media partners, we will include the link here.
