Russia can't derail US exit from Afghanistan: general: Russia would be unable to disrupt the US military's withdrawal from Afghanistan even if it cut off access to supply routes across its territory, a top US commander said Wednesday.
Amid rising tensions between Washington and Moscow over the crisis in Ukraine, the head of NATO-led forces in Afghanistan reassured lawmakers that Russia could not hold up a planned troop drawdown there.
"I'm absolutely confident we'll be able to" remove all US equipment on schedule, General Joseph Dunford told the Senate Armed Services Committee.
"Even if the Russians cut off one of the avenues?" Senator John McCain asked.
"Yes, senator," Dunford said.
The general said that "we've got resilience in the system and I'm not concerned at all about a loss of the Russian northern distribution network, the Russian piece of that."
Dunford was referring to a network of road and rail routes that pass through Central Asia, the Caucasus and, in some cases, Russia.
