Упрощенная HTML-версия
Author : M. Konarovsky
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Candidate of Science (History)
THE YEAR 2014 marked three good round figures
in the nearly century-long history of the relation-
ships between Soviet Russia/Soviet Union/Russian
Federation and Afghanistan. Last spring, the 95th
anniversary of the recognition by Moscow of sov-
ereignty and independence of Afghanistan remained
unnoticed; in February, veterans of the Afghan war
widely celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Soviet
pullout of Afghanistan, while in December we pon-
dered once more on the decision of the Politburo
of the CC CPSU to move Soviet troops into Afghanistan adopted 35 years ago. The first date
belongs to a prologue of a new stage of international relations launched by the end of World
War I and the 1917 October Revolution in Russia; two others belong to the epilogue of the post-
World War II international developments and the beginning of the Soviet Union's disintegra-
tion.
Before the Russian revolutions which followed one another in 1917 the world had been watching
a clash of imperial ambitions of two superpowers; in the post-revolutionary period, the Great
Game became a conflict between two world political systems even if the aims remained the
same: protection of the strategic interests and spheres of influence. Very much as before Moscow
wanted to remain in Central Asia, while Britain remained concerned with India isolated from
Central Asia by Afghanistan. After the Russian revolution, Foggy Albion no longer feared the
"Russian bear" of czarism; it was, however, very much concerned with protecting the "jewel of
the British crown" against the zealous propaganda of the ideas and slogans of the world revo-
lution carried out by the Bolsheviks and the Communist International - the Comintern. It was
at that time that new players joined the next stage of diplomatic warfare between the two old ri-
vals.
There are certain parallels between what Moscow was doing in Afghanistan in the late twentieth
century and what Washington has been doing there in the early twenty-first century.
THE FIRST STAGE of mutual "adjustment" was crowned in February 1921 with a Soviet-
Afghan Friendship Treaty which laid the foundation of the relationships for many years to come.
Its text was a product of strenuous efforts accompanied by prolonged delays, mutual mistrust
and so on. Kabul, obviously unwilling to let Moscow open its consulates in the country's east
bordering on British India, slowed down the ratification of this document of fundamental im-
portance for the future of their bilateral relations in all areas. London, in its turn, used Kabul's
indecision to tighten its demands: recognition of Afghanistan's full independence in exchange
of total break-off with Moscow. Not ready and not willing to obey the Amir exploited the situ-
Электронное приложение к журналу «
Международная жизнь
»
Russia-Afghanistan: Three Milestones