No Russian support for US invasion of Afghanistan

The Russian President, Vladimir Putin, has warned America that it will not back an Afghan invasion.

Because of its proximity to Afghanistan and its deep knowledge of the area from Russia’s own conflict with Afghanistan, the US was hoping to secure Russian help in encircling the country from the north.

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov said that he saw no basis for ‘even the hypothetical possibility of NATO military operations on the territory of Central Asian nations’. The Russian Chief of Staff, General Anatoly Kvashnin, made it clear that the Russian Army would not participate in what he termed ‘acts of revenge’ against the perpetrators of the attacks on the US.

President Putin’s reluctance to support US military action will come as a deep disappointment to the Bush administration, particularly after Pakistan’s agreement to allow US troops to enter its airspace.

The US is also putting pressure on Pakistan to take action from the south against Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban, whom America has accused of sheltering Osama bin Laden, the prime suspect for Tuesday’s massacre.