Excerpts from an interview with Secretary of Russia’s Security Council Nikolai Patrushev, who has traditionally been one of the more perceptive Russian officials. [In December 2013 he said that Ukraine was Washington’s payback for Syria; that the U.S. was punishing Moscow for intervening to prevent a U.S.-NATO war against Syria in the preceding months by triggering a coup, and as it turned out a war as well, in Russia’s western neighbor.] Of course his comments are self-serving and not entirely accurate – for example, Ukraine is of far greater geostrategic value to the U.S. and NATO than Afghanistan is – and he neglected to mention that Afghanistan is a NATO partner, a member of the Partners Across the Globe along with Australia, Colombia (here and here), Iraq, Japan, New Zealand, Pakistan and South Korea; with nations like BRICS states Brazil and India (here and here) and others like Senegal being primed for membership as well.

Izvestia: Afghanistan’s fate awaits Ukraine, says top Russian security official

The military operation in Afghanistan was a goldmine for the US military industrial complex and those in the armed forces who were in charge of the finances for the Afghan army, in his opinion. “There are those among Americans who profited off this war, so they are not particularly worried what the world thinks about the US,” he said. He noted that about $90 bln was spent on training the Afghan servicemen, while information on embezzlement is not being disclosed. Additionally, according to the security chief, the US “didn’t even bother to take out of the country a large number of weapons and military property, and just abandoned it all,” while the military industrial complex and subcontractors raked in “superprofits.”

He also noted that Washington is pumping Ukraine full of weapons that it has no use for and backs the growth of extremism, drug trafficking and ethnic discord. In his opinion, Ukraine is heading towards dissolution and at some point, the US won’t even remember its supporters much like what happened in Kabul. “Did the fact that Afghanistan having the status of a main US ally outside of NATO save the ousted pro-American regime in Kabul? A similar situation awaits those who are banking on America in Ukraine where neo-Nazis are capable of taking power, the country is going to disintegrate, and the White House at a certain moment won’t even remember its supporters in Kiev,” the security chief explained.