Sergey Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, criticized the 20-year presence of the United States in Afghanistan in an interview with TASS news agency, stating that the US did not combat terrorism in Afghanistan.

Sergey Lavrov also said that Moscow, following the events of September 11th, was among the first countries that did not oppose the presence of the US in Afghanistan; however, according to the Russian Foreign Minister, terrorism was not dealt with over these twenty years.

According to TASS, “Lavrov also recalled that the United States came to Afghanistan with the sympathies of the UN Security Council after the attack on the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001.”

"President Putin was the first to call US President George W. Bush and offered help and support. No one objected or called the entry of American coalition troops into Afghanistan an aggression or occupation. Everyone understood that such a terrorist attack must be held accountable. Twenty years of stay in Afghanistan showed that the Americans did not fight any kind of terrorism," Lavrov said as quoted by TASS.

Meanwhile, the Islamic Emirate said that America invaded Afghanistan to manage Central Asian countries and its rivals.

“They had come to occupy and permanently conquer Afghanistan, to build their military bases on our soil, to control Central Asia from Afghanistan, and to threaten some of their rival countries from here,” Zabihullah Mujahid, the spokesperson for the Islamic Emirate, told TOLOnews.

“We have realized that the intense competition between the Americans and the Russians is underway. They accuse each other over geopolitical competitions for resources; however, in the case of Afghanistan, it is sufficient that the Americans failed in counter-terrorism and nation-building in Afghanistan,” said Shir Aqa Rohani, a political analyst.

“It’s okay that there was a significant change in the economy, especially in the lives of the people, because billions of dollars flowed into Afghanistan during the twenty-year presence of the United States and other NATO countries; however, the specific goal that the United States had come for -- to fight terrorist groups -- unfortunately, was not achieved,” said Najib Rahman Shamal, another political analyst.

Russian officials spoke of counter-terrorism after the recent deadly attack on a concert hall in the Krasnogorsk region of Moscow, which resulted in the death of more than 140 people and injured 182 others.