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November 4, 2009 (LPAC)—All of the nations bordering Afghanistan, as well as the United States, are needed to stabilize the situation in that country, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told the Russian press during the Russia-India-China foreign ministers meeting in Bangalore Oct. 28. No one should see the RIC (Russia-India-China) as any "counterweight" to the United States in Afghanistan, he said. "The three nations can and are willing to work with other major actors to develop a collective strategy, meaning exactly collective," Lavrov said.

He called for paying attention to political as well as military conflicts, and criticized the George W. Bush administration for its "lopsided interpretation of collective efforts." Lavrov expressed hope for something better from the Obama administration, but noted that "[s]o far inertia lingers at the implementers level in the US that still follow the well-trodden track, trying to decide anything and everything beforehand for others."

He emphasized that "It is necessary to do everything to uproot terrorist and narcotic threats emanating from Afghanistan," and repeated the standing Russian proposals that "regional security maintenance plans" could in the future help rebuild stability in Afghanistan, after the U.S. and other troops have departed. "Collaboration between the CSTO [security organization of the former Soviet republics] and NATO could help provide that security maintenance," he said, since these two structures, "with practical capabilities to suppress drug traffic and financial flows coming into the hands of drug barons and terrorists, should work closely together."