ArmInfo.The latest events in Afghanistan are part of a large geopolitical confrontation over the Central Asian zone of responsibility of the CSTO. Victor Nadein- Raevsky, senior researcher at Institute of World Economy and International Relations of the Russian Academy of Sciences, expressed a similar opinion to ArmInfo.
"In particular, by leaving Afghanistan, the United States delegates part of its own functions and powers in this country and not only in this country, but also in the surrounding region of Turkey. This is done quite deliberately in order to reduce tensions in relations with Ankara and to further deepen partnership with it within the framework of NATO," he stressed.
According to the expert, in response to these actions of the United States, Russia is acting quite rationally, without going beyond political pragmatism. According to Nadein-Raevsky, having received representatives of the Taliban movement, which is officially banned in Russia, in Moscow, the Russian Foreign Ministry demonstrated this very pragmatism. According to him, the Taliban does not pose a threat to Russia itself. Moreover, under certain circumstances it can even become a factor stabilizing the situation in the region.
The Taliban itself, in his opinion, is well aware that in Central Asia, in the person of the Islamic State, there is a dangerous, common enemy posing a serious threat, including for Russia. And for Moscow, the promises of the Taliban to confront IS are extremely important. How important is cooperation in this matter with the same Turkey, which over the past three decades has been constantly increasing its own influence in Central Asia in all possible sectors of public and political life. "
It is important to note that all of this has naturally transformed into a rather serious advantage of Turkey in the Central Asian states. Thus, today we have to state the dominance of Turkic ideas in this part of the post- Soviet space, in the CSTO area of responsibility. Nevertheless, Moscow also has leverage over the situation, as evidenced by the same meeting with the Taliban on Smolenskaya Square. And, in this light, it is too early to talk about the readiness of the Central Asian countries to replace Russia with Turkey," the Russian expert summed up.