Russia tells the US to pay for a 20-year occupation
New Delhi: Russian Permanent Representative to the UN Vasily Nebenzya called on his US counterpart Linda Thomas-Greenfield to return the money stolen from the Afghan people, instead of trying to make others pay for someone else’s bills during the UN Security Council meeting on Afghanistan.
Thomas-Greenfield claimed during the meeting that Russia allegedly contributes too little to fund the restoration of Afghanistan.
“From the long-winded speculations of our US colleagues, this could be perceived as a call to Russia and China to pay for the restoration of Afghanistan. Allegedly, it is the US and its allies who are paying for everything, while all that Russia and China only do is just empty talk.”
“The cynicism of such claims is simply shocking. We are being called upon to pay for restoring the country, whose economy was effectively destroyed by the 20-year-long occupation by the US and NATO,” the diplomat noted. “Instead of admitting its own mistakes and trying to fix them, we are being accused of being unwilling to pay for someone else’s bill. It is an interesting proposal.”
“No, our dear former Western partners, it is you who must pay for your own mistakes,” the diplomat specified. “And, for starters, it is necessary to return the money stolen from the Afghan people back to them. We have been helping and will help Afghanistan. And we suggest that you focus on paying the bills to the Afghan people for the 20 years of pointless occupation, which destroyed Afghanistan and which put its people on the brink of survival.”
“Not everything can be measured in money. The lives of those who died during your imposition of democracy in Afghanistan cannot be measured with money; nor can money buy the loyalty of the people of Afghanistan, which the US has completely lost, apparently,” Nebenzya insisted.
(Vinayak)
