Russia sees no threat from the Taliban (banned in the Russian Federation) to the states of Central Asia, Zamir Kabulov, the Russian President's Special Representative for Afghanistan and Director of the Second Asia Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry, said to Channel One Russia on Monday.
"We do not see a direct threat to our allies in Central Asia. There is not a single fact that says otherwise," he said.
Kabulov stressed that Russia had prepared the ground and established contacts with the Taliban in advance. "We have established ties and contacts with the Taliban a long time ago. We have paved the way for a conversation with the new authorities in Afghanistan, and this is an asset of the Russian foreign policy, which we will use to the fullest in the long-term interests of the Russian Federation," the diplomat noted.
"We have long discussed with the Taliban the prospect of further developments after their seizure of power in the country, and they have repeatedly confirmed that they have no extraterritorial goals, they have learned their lessons of 2000 in Afghanistan," Kabulov pointed out. - "But that doesn't mean we should relax. When there's total regime change, there's always a niche for other international terrorist organizations that might pose a security threat to our allies in the long run".
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Creative Commons
Based on materials from TASS