MOSCOW – *Russian Defense Minister Army General Sergei Shoigu on Wednesdaywarned that Afghanistan may become a new shelter not only for ISILmilitants but for other terrorist groups in the region.*

“Afghanistan may become a new shelter not only for militants of the ISIL[the former name of the Islamic State terror grouping outlawed in Russia)but also for other terror groups,” Shoigu said at 7th Moscow conference oninternational security today, quoted by TASS news agency.

Shoigu claimed that the U.S. years-long presence in Afghanistan has failedto normalize the situation in that country.

“The situation in Afghanistan continues to deteriorate. The presence of theU.S. and NATO contingent in that country for more than 15 years has failedto bring the situation to normal,” he said.

According to Shoigu, the U.S. is seeking to “gain foothold in Central Asiaon new terms” to have a possibility to spread its influence to thecountries adjacent to Afghanistan.”

Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai who has been among the critics of theU.S. policies in Afghanistan also attended the Moscow conference which runsfrom 04 to 05 April.

“..The assumption was that the U.S. and its allies would be able to handlethe problem and succeed and that they were sincere in their mission, thathope has been dashed to the ground, unfortunately. 17 years on, Afghanistanis neither peaceful nor safe,” he said.

This comes as recently, the U.S. and NATO forces commander in Afghanistan,General John Nicholson alleged that Russian weapons were being smuggledacross the Tajik border to the Taliban.

He accused Russia of exaggerating the number of Islamic State (IS) fightersin Afghanistan “to legitimize the actions of the Taliban and provide somedegree of support to the Taliban”.