Hitting out at the U.S and its allies, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that their withdrawal from Afghanistan has led to “a new crisis” in the world and it is still unclear how this will affect regional and global security, Nikkei Asia reports.
“That’s why it is for good reason that our countries [Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa] have paid special attention to this issue,” Putin said in his opening remarks at the 13th BRICS summit, held under the chairmanship of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Chinese President Xi Jinping, his Brazilian counterpart Jair Bolsonaro and South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa also participated in the meeting, which took place in virtual mode for the second time in a row amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Putin said Russia, just like its BRICS partners, has consistently spoken for establishing long-awaited peace and stability on Afghan soil. “Citizens of this country have fought for decades and deserve to exercise their right of defining what their state will look like, on their own.”
