MOSCOW. Sept 7 (Interfax) - Following its withdrawal from Afghanistan, the United States will spend the coming years in "total isolation," and the role of the United States and NATO will decrease on the world stage, Chairman of the Yabloko party's Federal Political Committee Grigory Yavlinsky said.
"The United States suffered a defeat in Iraq, which led to the appearance of ISIL [terrorist organization banned in Russia], and it also suffered a defeat in Afghanistan, where the Taliban [terrorist organization banned in Russia] have come to power, so I believe they will spend a decade in total isolation. Their influence and the role played by both NATO and the United States will become secondary. This should be kept in mind, because, under these circumstances, the pursuit of an aggressive policy leads to a great catastrophe in just one or two steps," Yavlinsky said at a press conference at Interfax on Tuesday.
In this case, attempts to solve territorial problems "will have the most severe consequences for our country, its future, and the people," he said.
Given the events unfolding in Afghanistan, Russia "should have focused on Central Asia," Yavlinsky said. "Because for the last five years, it has been absolutely clear to any schoolchild where events were going there. It's another thing that the pullout could have happened not as swiftly as it did, but somewhat more smoothly, but that doesn't change anything. Now there's ISIL, the Taliban, and poor residents of Central Asian countries, former republics, that will be looking at them one way or another and will be interacting with them," Yavlinsky said.
For Russia, the events in Afghanistan "create a very big, serious threat related to drugs, terrorism, and the revenge of terrorists that have migrated from Syria, regions of the Middle East to Afghanistan. That's a very important issue. Obviously, we should take measures [...] and deal with this very seriously," he said.
As the U.S.-led foreign forces were leaving Afghanistan, the Taliban took control of practically all Afghan provinces by the middle of August, including Kabul, which was taken over on August 15. There is only one province free from the Taliban today, and that is Panjshir, where a National Resistance Front has been created.