MOSCOW, October 8 (RIA Novosti) — Russia could help the process of modernization in Afghanistan by contributing to education projects, Director of the Center for Contemporary Afghanistan Studies Omar Nessar said at a press conference Wednesday.
"Russia could play a positive role … in the modernization of Afghanistan. [Russia could] contribute to education [in Afghanistan]," Nessar said at a press conference on Afghanistan, held at the press center of Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency.
He noted that this process may not be rapid but Russia could start by helping Afghanistan train specialists in various fields and raise the overall literacy level in the country.
"In future it will certainly translate into the modernization of the country because at the moment it is one of the biggest problems for Afghanistan," he added.
Former Russian Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Afghanistan Mikhail Konarovsky said that Russia would surely keep helping the country but it was difficult to say exactly what kind of help it would provide.
He noted, however, that Russia should not be expected to provide very large investments in this area, although cooperation between the countries in military and technical fields should continue. Konarovsky said it was important to realize that Afghanistan as a country should be able to cope with internal problems on its own.
"Countries that have dealings with Afghanistan … should understand that Afghanistan needs to 'stand on its own two feet,'" he said.
Afghanistan is still in a state of turmoil, as the Afghan government has long been fighting the Taliban, an Islamic movement that spread throughout Afghanistan and formed a government that was overthrown in 2001 after the US invasion into the country.
Some 41,000 NATO troops still remain in Afghanistan, helping fight the Taliban insurgency alongside Afghan soldiers and police. NATO's combat mission is scheduled to end in December 2014.
On September 30, the United States, NATO and Afghanistan signed a deal to formally justify the presence of a limited military contingent in the country after the formal withdrawal of international forces. About 12,000 troops are likely to stay into 2015 on training and support duties.
