Many Russian social media users couldn't wrap their minds around the US president's argument that the USSR went “bankrupt” and collapsed fighting in Afghanistan, with others looking to give Donald Trump a history lesson.
Donald Trump urged India, Pakistan and Russia to get directly involved in the war against the Taliban in Afghanistan on Wednesday in a televised cabinet meeting which included claims from the president that the Soviet Union fell apart due to its involvement in the war in Afghanistan.
“Russia used to be the Soviet Union. Afghanistan made it Russia, because they went bankrupt fighting in Afghanistan,” Trump said.
“The reason Russia [i.e. the USSR] was in Afghanistan was because terrorists were going into Russia. They were right to be there. The problem is it was a tough fight, and literally they went bankrupt. They went into being called Russia again as opposed of the Soviet Union. You know, a lot of these places you're reading about now are no longer part of Russia because of Afghanistan,” Trump added.
“But why isn't Russia there? Why isn't India there? Why isn't Pakistan there? Why are we there and we're six thousand miles away?” the president asked, before adding “But I don't mind. We want to help our people, we want to help other nations.”
Some observers took Trump's words as a sign of frustration over expectations that the US maintain a military presence in Afghanistan…
