He's afraid of citrus, and in that scene the guy is showing him a lemon to get him to do his bidding.

I think they are meaning to show that "this would be another Afghanistan", but the context of that scene makes it seem like Afghanistan is manipulating the USA into annexing Russia for their own ends? I dunno it's confusing.

Maybe Afghanistan is the lemon? And they're saying the USA is afraid of another Afghanistan and won't annex Russia?