MOSCOW. Nov 30 (Interfax-AVN) - Russian top defense officials believe it would be premature to say that the Northern Alliance has won the war in Afghanistan.
"Even though the anti-Taliban units are in control of 80% to 90% of Afghan territory, nothing has been settled," Colonel General Yuri Baluyevsky, first deputy chief of-staff of the Russian Armed Forces, told the press on Friday.
"The Taliban forces have not really fought. The Taliban has preserved its strength. Furthermore, I do not doubt that foreign mercenaries fighting for the Taliban will never lay down their arms," he said.
The talks on Afghan settlement that are underway in Bonn "will surely help find the solution, but it will still be very difficult to restore peace in Afghanistan," Baluyevsky said.
"The entire world should be involved in this process," he added.