The Taliban (banned in Russia) have already secured the outer perimeter of the Russian Embassy in Kabul. This was reported on Monday by Zamir Kabulov, the Russian President's Special Representative for Afghanistan and Director of the Second Asia Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to the Ekho Moskvy radio station.
"They have already secured the outer perimeter of the Russian embassy," he said.
"Tomorrow they will discuss with the ambassador the details for a longer-term perspective," Kabulov added.
Unexpected seizure of Kabul
The capture of the Afghan capital by Taliban fighters came as somewhat of a surprise to the Russian side, which had relied on more optimistic estimates of the combat readiness of the Islamic republic's government troops, Kabulov said.
"To a certain extent yes, it came as a surprise," he said. - "We proceeded from the understanding that the Afghan army - whatever it may be - would still be resisting for some time. But apparently we were too optimistic in assessing the quality of the American, NATO, trained forces. They dropped everything at the first shot".
The special representative noted that the US media are now trying to draw parallels with the withdrawal of Soviet troops, when allegedly "the same regime collapsed." "Nothing of the sort," the diplomat pointed out. - "The regime stood for another three years, and the regime they created collapsed even before the Americans left - that's the fundamental difference."
Answering a question about whether the Taliban's capture of Kabul also came as a surprise to the intelligence community in other parts of the world, Kabulov noted that "American [intelligence agencies] are ashamed to agree with that view."
Situation in the city
The situation in Kabul, where the main Taliban forces have already entered, remains absolutely calm, Kabulov said.
"In general the situation is absolutely calm, surprisingly. Today the main Taliban forces peacefully, calmly entered Kabul. Before that, a Taliban top brass had issued a warning to all their units: not to offend the population, not to enter houses, not to touch anything, to maintain order. Moreover, the day before they entered, the Taliban leadership had told the Afghan Defense Ministry to provide security in the city," he said.
Situation at the embassy
Part of the Russian embassy staff in Kabul will be sent on leave or evacuated, Kabulov said.
"We have a relatively large embassy in Afghanistan, in any case it is about 100 people. Some of our staff will be sent on leave or evacuated in some other way just so as not to create too much of a presence," he said.
Evacuation of Russian citizens
According to Kabulov, so far there have been no requests for evacuation from Russian citizens living in Afghanistan. "There is another category. These are Russian citizens of Afghan origin, there are several hundred of them, some of them have already been evacuated for quite a different reason, when we evacuated our citizens because of the pandemic. Many of them left Afghanistan who wanted to," he added. - "Right now, I don't have any information about any specific appeals from Russian passport holders to evacuate urgently".
Russians should remain calm and not leave their homes unnecessarily until the situation in the country clears up, Kabulov noted.
"[Russians in Afghanistan are recommended] to stay calm, not to leave their homes unnecessarily, not to draw attention to themselves until the situation is fully clarified," he said.
Kabulov also noted that he does not yet have any data on requests from Russians of Afghan origin for urgent evacuation from the country. "They all have a contact number of the Russian embassy. They know it very well, and they know where the embassy is, so let them choose the most convenient way to contact the Russian diplomatic mission," he added.
The special representative of the Russian president described a curfew in the capital of Afghanistan as a positive step. "It will allow for better control of the city from possible non-Taliban bandits and looters," Kabulov explained.
Recognition of the new regime
The Russian leadership will decide whether to recognize the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, depending on how responsibly the Taliban governs the country, Kabulov said.
"No one is going to rush anywhere with this. Recognition or non-recognition will depend on the behavior of the new authorities. We will carefully watch how responsibly they will run the country in the near future. The Russian leadership will draw the necessary conclusions based on the results," he said.
On the supply of weapons to the Taliban
The Taliban bought weapons from the Afghan army and police warehouses and seized ammunition during the war with Afghan government forces, and there were no external arms transfers from anyone, Kabulov noted.
"No one has supplied weapons to the Taliban in recent years, just because there was no need for it. While the Taliban were fighting the government troops, they successfully bought weapons from the warehouses of the Afghan army and police, and also took ammunition, and something was taken during the fighting," he said.
Meanwhile, the Taliban are financially supported by "some Islamic foundations" located mainly in the Persian Gulf region, Kabulov noted, without giving details about these organizations. "There are rich sponsors there," the special presidential representative added.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Press Service of the Russian Foreign Ministry / TASS
Based on materials from TASS