The debt, according to Russian sources, equals $9.8 billion, which Moscow is willing to reduce to $2 billion. There is no concrete information on when the money was given to Afghanistan, or exactly how the Russian authorities have calculated the amount of the debt.

While there has been no official public reaction from the Afghan Transitional Administration on this issue, Russian sources claim that Kabul wants the entire debt forgiven. Since Afghanistan has not had any large-scale formal dealing with the Russian Federation since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the debt must originate from the Soviet period.

Russia's request as it stands must be shocking to ordinary Afghans, who remember Russia's contributions to their country from April 1978 -- when the Moscow-backed People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) took power -- until 1989, when the decade-long (1979-89) occupation of Afghanistan by the Red Army ended (see "RFE/RL Afghanistan Report," 2 January and 1 May 2003).

Twenty-three years after Soviet troops attacked Kabul, they are still claiming victims with the countless land mines scattered throughout that country. The number killed during the decade-long Soviet occupation of Afghanistan is still not tallied, at least not for the Afghans. The number of Soviet dead has been estimated at 15,000, while between 1 million and 1.5 million Afghans perished. One-third of the entire Afghan population, about 6 million people, became refugees. The Afghan state was transformed into a sociopolitical black hole, and internal strife and civil warfare persisted for more than a decade beyond the Soviet withdrawal. If the events leading to the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks against the United States are viewed historically, their origins are inextricably linked to the events of 27 December 1979, the day the Soviet tanks rolled into Kabul.

Whatever money Moscow may have contributed to Kabul during the PDPA rule cannot be regarded as a debt held by Afghanistan. Moreover, the amount of $9.8 billion, unless the Scud missiles and Mi-24 Hind helicopters used by the Red Army to kill Afghans is counted, seems exceedingly high.

Today, as Afghanistan delicately, albeit with difficulty, moves toward becoming a normal nation-state, Russia's demand that it would only assist Afghanistan after it receives $2 billion is simply absurd.

Afghanistan's destruction and path to becoming a failed, terrorist-invested state is, first and foremost, the responsibility of the Afghans. Neither members of the PDPA nor the Taliban -- or the current warlords -- were foreigners. This stated, outside interference into the affairs of the Afghan state has crippled its development historically and catalyzed its destruction. And if any state bears an enormous responsibility in this regard, it is the former Soviet Union. Russia, as the main successor state of the Soviet Union, despite its own economic hardships, should be the first in line -- before countries such as Japan and Germany -- to help Afghanistan out of its current dilemma. And it is in Moscow's vital interest to see that Afghanistan becomes a stable and functioning state.

To demand that money earmarked by international donors for the reconstruction of Afghanistan be delivered to Moscow is simply pouring salt on the open wounds of the Afghans.