In an interview with Rossiya-24 television channel, the diplomat noted the importance of that region for Moscow, “because we do not have borders with our Central Asian allies, we have a visa-free regime with almost everyone.”

Hence, Lavrov said that firstly Russia needs to prevent the destabilization of neighboring countries and the influx of terrorist and drug threats from Afghanistan and to nip those threats in the bud within the Central Asian nation itself.

On October 27, during the meeting organized by Iran with Afghanistan’s neighboring countries, the Russian foreign minister called on the international community to intensify efforts to provide financial, economic and humanitarian aid to that country.

In his video message, he said that the time has come to “mobilize us to raise funds” in view of the situation of “socioeconomic collapse and humanitarian catastrophe” suffered by the Afghan people.

Lavrov warned that Afghanistan has to start from scratch, to rise from the ruins left by two decades of intervention by the United States and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the imposition of its model of Government.

He recalled that the restoration of the country’s education, public health and infrastructure systems involves huge expenses.

“In this regard, I would like to emphasize that those who brought Afghanistan to this situation must bear the greatest responsibility,” he said.

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