BISHKEK (TCA) — The government of Afghanistan has offered Russia to participate in the restoration of 124 facilities important for the national economy, the commercial attache of the Afghan Embassy to Russia Kasem Mohammad has said, Russia’s Sputnik news agency reports.
“Many facilities in Afghanistan were built by Soviet specialists and can be restored by Russia. There are more than 100 of them, being precise — 124. I will mention some of them. The Salang tunnel, the Kabul bakery, the Polytechnical University, the Jangalak automobile repair plant, and the power station in Pol-e-Khomri,” Mohammad told Izvestiya newspaper.
He also said that the theme of Afghanistan’s economic reconstruction was already raised during the talks between Afghan Ambassador to Russia Abdul Qayyum Kochai and Russian Deputy Energy Minister Yuri Sentyurin.
Mohammad stressed that Afghan President Ashraf Ghani supports the strengthening of Russia’s economic presence, and a special economic council was created for these purposes.
Meantime, the Russian Foreign Ministry last week said that reports on Russia’s alleged support of the Taliban in Afghanistan are “absurd”.
“The Russian side is being charged with the supply of weapons of war, financing the activities of this extremist organization and even assisting in the establishment of training camps for militants on the Afghan territory. All these accusations are not supported by any evidence,” the ministry said in a statement on March 10.
The ministry stressed that the allegations were a part of anti-Russian smear campaign.
Moscow’s aim in contacts with the fundamentalist Taliban movement in Afghanistan is to encourage its members to join Afghanistan’s national reconciliation efforts and ensure the safety of Russian citizens in the country, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
