MOSCOW, Jan. 27 (Xinhua) -- Russia is ready to help reconstruct Afghanistan provided that the West offers the money, Russian business daily Kommersant reported on Wednesday, citing the country's NATO envoy.
Kommersant quoted Dmitry Rogozin as saying that Russia could restore more than 140 industrial and infrastructure facilities built by Soviet specialists in Afghanistan.
"We consider that civil construction projects are the most effective way to fight insurgents. This gives Afghanistan the opportunity to develop a normal independent economy," Rogozin said.
Rogozin said Russia would table the proposal at an international conference on Afghanistan in London on Thursday.
He also called on countries "that have a lot of money and want to help Afghanistan, but cannot send soldiers" to finance the war-torn country's reconstruction.
The Soviet Union sent engineers to help Afghanistan build power plants, highways, electricity lines, as well as gas and oil pipeline networks between 1952 and 1988, with funds from the Soviet government, Kommersant reported.
