Russian Presidential Special Representative for Afghanistan and Director of the Second Asian Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry Zamir Kabulov met with Amir Khan Muttaqi, the head of the Foreign Ministry of the radical Taliban movement in Afghanistan (banned in the Russian Federation), in the Afghan capital on Thursday. This was reported by Hafiz Zia Ahmad, the deputy spokesman of the Taliban foreign ministry.
"At the beginning, Muttaqi spoke in detail about bilateral relations between Afghanistan and Russia, regional issues, economic cooperation and the latest developments in Afghanistan," Ahmad wrote on Twitter.
The Taliban foreign minister said, "Russia has a special place in Afghanistan's foreign policy." He thanked the Russian side "for providing all possibilities to the embassy of Afghanistan in Moscow" and mentioned that the interim Afghan government is "interested in expanding and increasing its diplomatic presence in Moscow."
Furthermore, Muttaqi "discussed commercial operations between Afghanistan and Russia and asked the Russian side to work out ways of developing bilateral trade [with Kabulov]." He also touched on issues concerning "imports of oil, gas and wheat from Russia" and asked the Russian delegation to "give Afghanistan special conditions in terms of customs tariffs.
According to the Taliban foreign ministry spokesman, Kabulov expressed his condolences in connection with the terrorist attack that took place on Wednesday outside the ministry building in the Afghan capital. Kabulov also said Russia would like to see Afghanistan "stable and developing" and does not intend to "criticize it and interfere in its internal affairs as Western countries do."
The Taliban launched a large-scale operation to take control of Afghanistan after the US announced in spring 2021 that it had decided to withdraw its armed forces from the country. On August 15, the Taliban entered Kabul without a fight and on September 7 announced the composition of the provisional government, whose legitimacy has not yet been recognized by any country.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Federation Council
Based on materials from TASS