Obama, Medvedev reach 'substantial' deal on Afghanistan
MOSCOW, Russia (CNN) - U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed an agreement Monday that will help U.S. military efforts in Afghanistan.
The deal will allow the United States to transport personnel and equipment across Russian territory to supply U.S. and coalition forces in Afghanistan.
"This is a substantial contribution by Russia to our international effort, and it will save the United States time and resources in giving our troops the support that they need," Obama said at a news conference with Medvedev.
In a written statement, the White House said the deal "complements a NATO-Russia arrangement, under which the United States began shipping non-lethal equipment to Afghanistan through Russian territory earlier this year."
The new transit routes will allow the U.S. military to resupply international forces more quickly, saving up to $133 million a year in fuel and other transportation costs, the White House said.
Obama and Medvedev also issued a joint statement saying they are concerned about the continuing conflict in Afghanistan and reaffirming their "commitment to the goals of the common fight against the threats of terrorism, armed extremism, and illegal drug trafficking" in the country.
"We shall continue and develop our cooperation in the interest of enhancing the capabilities of the government of Afghanistan to accomplish key socioeconomic objectives, to raise living standards, and to ensure the security of its people," the two presidents said.
Updated: 1:23 p.m.
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Whatever Obama does, Republicans criticize him. This in not constructive criticism, it is a sadist attitude.
Republican Party is Done, Gone, Finished.
Filibuster for us. The Duds and Incompetent have been Eliminated.
Freedom has Come to America.
We no more have Idiots Running our Country.
We have no more Criminals in White House.
Republican Party did nothing in last 8 years.
Now they are Speaking.
They need to just shut their loud mouths.
All Talk + No Deeds = Republican Party.............
Russia would be a good ally to have...
None of the 9/11 Terrorist were from Iraq. Most of them were from Countries that are friends of America. Even London Metro Bombing was done by Pakistan Terrorists. Pakistan is friend of America and an ally. Iraq was attacked for Bush’s Greed for Oil. Intelligence reports about Iraq’s WMDs was intentionally created to mislead Americans for their support to go into War. Bush admitted ”Intelligence about Iraq was a Mistake”.....
Mistake that resulted into the deaths of 4300 US Troops and 45000 US Troops Injured. In 9/11 attacks about 2800 people died. And to imprudently remedy 9/11 we lost another 4300 lives without any success and we are still hanging in uncertainty and we are still unsafe.
Weapons are Supplied to Terrorists by Countries like Russia and China. Iraq and Afghanistan, these countries can’t even manufacture a paper clip, leave aside sophisticated weapons. Weapons are not only being supplied to Al Quida, weapons are also supplied to Somalia Pirates.
Oh yeah, great move, now we get deeper into debt with another ongoing war! We are not saving anything because we are sending in more soldiers and more equipment to take care of the problem. If you think this is so good, why did the the Russians not offer to help by letting some of their soldiers' go fight or better yet, why not offer money!
Obama is just amazing. Getting them to do something they should have always done. This will be praised as one of his greatest accomplishments. He is the savior, the awaited for one, the messiah, how much did we have to give up to get them to conform to the United Nations resolution that was passed in 2001.