Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev has said there is no alternative for NATO but to withdraw from Afghanistan if a "another Vietnam" is to be avoided.
Speaking in a BBC interview from Moscow, Gorbachev praised the decision by US President Barack Obama to begin withdrawing troops next year.
"Victory is impossible in Afghanistan. Obama is right to pull the troops out. No matter how difficult it will be," said Gorbachev.
The former leader, who was in power when the ex-Soviet Union pulled its troops out of Afghanistan in the late 1980s, said there had been an agreement at the time that Afghanistan would remain a neutral country.
"We had hoped America would abide by the agreement that we reached that Afghanistan should be a neutral, democratic country, that would have good relations with its neighbours and with both the US and the USSR," said Gorbachev.
"The Americans always said they supported this, but at the same time they were training militants - the same ones who today are terrorising Afghanistan and more and more of Pakistan," he added.
Because of that history, it would be difficult for the US to get out of the situation.
"But what's the alternative - another Vietnam? Sending in half-a-million troops? That wouldn't work," said Gorbachev. - Sapa-dpa
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