KABUL - Afghanistan asked Russia for assistance in supplies, services and training for the military and police, Afghanistan's head of the Foreign Ministry's Department for Policies and Strategic Planning Mohammad Ashraf Haidari said.
Mohammad Ashraf Haidari made the remarks in a meeting with the head of Afghanistan's
"We discussed this at the Russian Foreign Ministry and asked to consider possible service support in Afghanistan, as well as material supplies and training for the armed forces and the police," he said.
Afghanistan is expecting response to this address later.
The diplomat paid special attention to servicing of Russian-made helicopters, which Afghanistan’s Armed Forces are using. "We have asked Russia to provide service for Russian-made aircraft, helicopters in Afghanistan," he said.
Head of Afghanistan’s delegation said the cooperation with Russia in the military-technical sphere was affected by the Western sanctions.
"The anti-Russian sanctions have affected the support Russia provided in servicing the Russian equipment, especially helicopters," he said.
"This is why we are interested in seeing settlement of the problems between Russia and the US and hail the statements both sides made after the meeting of foreign affairs’ heads - Sergei Lavrov and Rex Tillerson."
Haidari said it would favor not only Afghanistan, but also would add to effectiveness of fighting the terrorist groups of the ISIL and Al-Qaeda, which are active in Afghanistan.(FNA)