Issue of Ukraine’s membership in NATO cannot be excluded from peace talks. No one is interested in Afghanistan 2.0 – Zelenskyy
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that the issue of the country's potential membership in NATO cannot be excluded from the peace talks.
The head of state said this in an interview with the ARD TV channel, Censor.NET reports.
He recalled the hasty withdrawal of Western troops from Afghanistan in 2021, thus opposing negotiating tactics that involve giving up key demands before the start of negotiations.
Zelenskyy, referring to statements from the United States that Ukraine would not become a NATO member, emphasized: "You cannot just remove this issue from the table. It doesn't work that way. I don't think anyone is interested in Afghanistan 2.0."
According to him, "lack of respect for human life" led to the tragedy in Afghanistan.
"Therefore, we have experience of what happens when someone finishes something without thinking it through and retreats very quickly," the president said.
It should be noted that the agreement on the withdrawal of Western troops from Afghanistan was concluded during Donald Trump's first presidential term and implemented under his successor Joe Biden in 2021.
This led to a chaotic withdrawal of troops from the country, while the Taliban quickly captured the Afghan capital Kabul after decades of fighting and thus established power in the country.
Earlier it was reported that Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said he did not rule out Ukraine's membership in NATO in the future.
