Russian leaders have long held a deeply pessimistic view about Afghanistan’s future prospects as well as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO) strategy there (Mil.ru, December 10, 2014). Indeed, late last year, Russian and Central Asian officials raised the possibility of reinforcing Russian army units on the Tajikistan-Afghanistan border and even conducting “precautionary” operations in Central Asia against the Taliban (Interfax, December 29, 2014). Consequently, in early October 2015, Russia announced that it was moving a newly formed air group of Mil Mi-24P and Mi-8 MTV helicopters to reinforce the Russian 201st military base in Tajikistan. The attack and transport …read more
Source: The Jamestown Foundation