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The U.S President Donald Trump has called for Russia and others to take a more active role in the conflict in Afghanistan. He claimed that their involvement was responsible for the collapse of the Soviet Union. On Wednesday, Trump blasted the extended U.S involvement in Afghanistan during a press conference. He said that it has waged its longest war against the Taliban Islamist militant group. He added that Washington was currently in talks with various factors, including the Taliban, in order to find peace, but then called on regional powers to step up.

Trump also pointed out that, “India is there, Russia is there, Russia used to be the Soviet Union, Afghanistan made it Russia because they went bankrupt fighting in Afghanistan”. Trump said, “So you take a look at other countries, Pakistan is there, they should be fighting. But Russia should be fighting, the reason Russia was in Afghanistan because those terrorists were going into Russia, they were right to be there, the problem is it was a tough fight and literally they went bankrupt, they went into being called Russia again as opposed to the Soviet Union”.

The direct role of Soviet Union in Afghanistan started after the 1973 coup that ousted the ruling monarchy and established the Republic of Afghanistan. It was sought closer relations with Moscow but later opposed after the growing influence of Soviet. The left-wing of Peoples Democratic Party of Afghanistan then led the 1978 Saur Revolution that established the communist Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. The fall of the Soviet Union didn’t mean the end of Moscow’s involvement in Afghanistan. Russia joined Iran, India, Turkey, the United States, and others in supporting the country’s Northern Alliance. It was a united front attempting to get a total take-over from the Taliban. It became the dominant force in the unrest that caused the fall of the Soviet-backed government.