Medvedev says Russia will not send military to Afghanistan.

WASHINGTON, April 14 (Itar-Tass) - Russia does not have plans for
taking part in military operations in Afghanistan, President Dmitry
Medvedev said Tuesday as the visited the Brookings Institution.
"We have our own history of activity in Afghanistan, and that's the
history of the Soviet period," Medvedev said. "That's a difficult chapter
of our recent past and I'm not at all sure if our society is ready to open
it once again."
"Still, we won't stay aside from the international efforts to bring
political normalization to Afghanistan," he said. "We agreed to /with
Western countries/ to cooperate in a range of areas from military transits
to humanitarian aid."
"Yet the main thing now is give the Afghan political system an
opportunity to develop," Medvedev said, adding America cannot stay on the
Afghan territory forever.
"By the time /of the U.S. withdrawal/ the Afghan political system must
be independent and must have gained enough strength - something that our
common efforts should be spearheaded at," Medvedev said.
"To build a political system /in Afghanistan/ is something the USSR
failed to do in the past," he said. "The Soviet Union tried to reproduce
its own likeness there and it failed in so doing."
"Today's task in Afghanistan is to create an efficient enough state
and government," Medvedev said.
He indicated that too little is still being done to curb the drug
trafficking from Afghanistan, adding that the U.S. obviously is suffering
much less from Afghan drugs than Russia is.
"There can be no compromises in that sphere," Medvedev said.
Along with this, he noted a growing Russian-U.S. cooperation with that
country.
"Russia and the U.S. are assisting the Afghans in transforming their
country into a stable and steadily developing state ensuring a secure and
peaceful life for its citizens," Medvedev said.
"We're working together on political settlement there, on building up
the national Armed Forces and the police, and we also cooperate in the
transportation of transit cargoes there," he said.
"We're designing joint projects for industry and infrastructure
modernization in Afghanistan," Medvedev said.