Putin: Money Problems May Push Afghanistan’s New Authorities To Drug, Arms Trade

Money shortage in the treasury of Afghanistan may push its new authorities to drug and arms trade, Vladimir Putin said at a joint meeting of the leaders of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).

He noted that after the US armed forces left, a large number of arms was also left the country worth billions of dollars. Putin added that officially the Taliban (outlawed in Russia) proclaimed its intention to fight both drug trade and other crimes. "By the way, they used to combat drug trafficking quite successfully, we should acknowledge that. We will see what will happen now," he said.