{"id":39909,"date":"2020-07-03T02:24:22","date_gmt":"2020-07-03T02:24:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/uncategorized\/2020\/07\/03\/us-russia-share-a-complex-and-bloody-history-in-afghanistan\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T07:36:45","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T07:36:45","slug":"us-russia-share-a-complex-and-bloody-history-in-afghanistan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/news\/2020\/07\/03\/us-russia-share-a-complex-and-bloody-history-in-afghanistan\/","title":{"rendered":"US, Russia share a complex and bloody history in Afghanistan"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

ISLAMABAD \u2014 Moscow and Washington are intertwined in a complex and bloody history in Afghanistan, with both suffering thousands of dead and wounded in conflicts lasting for years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now both superpowers are linked again over Afghanistan, with intelligence reports indicating Russia secretly offered bounties to the Taliban<\/a> to kill American troops there. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But analysts suggest that despite these apparent differences, the two adversaries actually have much in common, especially when it comes to what a postwar Afghanistan should look like: Both want a stable country that does not serve as a base for extremists to export terrorism. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Russian endgame is an Afghanistan which will neither support jihadi movements in the former U.S.S.R. nor host American bases that might one day be used against Russia,\u201d says Anatol Lieven, a Georgetown University professor in the Middle Eastern state of Qatar and a senior fellow at the New American Foundation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even the Pentagon said this week in a report to the U.S. Congress that Russia backed Washington\u2019s deal with the Taliban as the best path forward, while at the same time the Kremlin has sought to cultivate interest with the group, limit the West\u2019s military presence and encourage operations against Islamic State militants. <\/p>\n\n\n\t