Military Review English Edition January-February 2015 | Page 108

Turning Russia from Ally into
Enemy
In the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks
against the United States, the Kremlin initially was
seen as a partner in the U.S.-led war against Islamic
terrorism in so far as the Russian army had been
fighting a protracted campaign against Chechen

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separatists. The Kremlin even supported the intervention in Afghanistan by allowing the U.S. military to use bases in the former Soviet Republics
in Central Asia over which it still exerted a strong
influence.41 Irrespective, the U.S. government never
whole-heartedly reciprocated support for the Kremlin’s
campaigns to squelch the jihad in the Caucasus. In fact,

January-February 2015  MILITARY REVIEW