MOSCOW. Nov 12 (Interfax-AVN) - Russia's former prime minister and current president of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Yevgeny Primakov believes the U.S. is still far from attaining its goals in Iraq.
"No tasks have been fulfilled in post-war Iraq and the U.S. is far from fulfilling them," Primakov said. He made these comments while receiving an honorary doctorate degree from the Russian Diplomatic Academy on Wednesday.
He said the United States' relatively easy victory in Iraq could have been the result of a "deal" between the U.S. and Saddam Hussein's entourage.
"I think it was a conspiracy, not necessarily between the future occupation forces and Hussein. The U.S. could have established contacts with Hussein's entourage, possibly on the condition that Hussein's life would be saved," Primakov said. He added that three weeks before the military operation was launched in Iraq, he met with Saddam in Baghdad and passed a verbal message to him from the Russian president.
Primakov argued that the U.S. has concentrated its attention to Iraq while turning its back on Afghanistan, where the situation is still unclear and the current government controls only Kabul and its suburbs.
"According to numerous sources, Osama bin Laden's possible whereabouts are the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. But neither the U.S., nor Pakistan has sent its troops to these districts. This suggests that the U.S. has focused on Iraq," Primakov said.