Russia pledges aid to Afghanistan during meeting with Taliban officials

Ties between Moscow and Kabul are growing as western countries shun group that seized power in Afghanistan in 2021

Taliban foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, second left, and Russia's special envoy to Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov, second right, during a meeting in Kabul. AFP

Russia pledged to continue supporting Afghanistan's Taliban rulers with food aid through the UN, during a meeting on Friday between senior officials from Moscow and Kabul.

The discussions in Kazan, south-west Russia, focused on regional threats and creating an inclusive government, Russian state news agency Tass reported.

The promise of support comes despite the Taliban’s international isolation over their policies towards female education and the rights of minorities, following a move by the group to forbid education for girls over the age of 10.

Women in Afghanistan are also forbidden from working for NGOs, which have become increasingly important as the country goes through financial collapse and rising poverty rates.

President Vladimir Putin's special representative for Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov attended the gathering and said Russia is inclined to keep helping Afghanistan independently and through the World Food Programme.

A letter from Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was read at the talks, accusing western countries of “complete failure” in Afghanistan, saying they should “bear the primary burden of rebuilding the country.”

Moscow’s growing ties with the group represent a sharp reversal of its relationship with the rugged, landlocked country of 40 million.

Essentially, it represents a new friendship between Russia, which invaded Afghanistan in 1979, and a militant group that emerged as a resistance movement to Moscow’s Soviet army, the Taliban.

Following the US-led invasion in 2001, relations between the western-backed Kabul government at the time and Moscow were limited to small amounts of military aid.

Many Afghans remember when thee Soviet Union invaded and occupied the country, leading to a bitter, foreign-backed insurgency that defeated Soviet forces, gave rise to the Taliban and led to the destruction of much of the country, including about one million fatalities.

Many serving Russian politicians, including Sergey Lavrov and Vladimir Putin, served in security or diplomatic roles during that era.

But relations improved dramatically in 2011 when former President Hamid Karzai urged Russia to rebuild Soviet-era projects in the country.

The Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan in mid-August 2021 as US and Nato troops were in the final weeks of their pullout from the country after 20 years of war.

Following their takeover, the Taliban gradually imposed harsh edicts, as they did during their previous rule of Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, based on their interpretation of Sharia.

Moscow has since 2017 hosted talks with the Taliban and other representatives from other Afghan factions, China, Pakistan, Iran, India and the former Soviet nations in Central Asia.

Taliban representatives were not at the last meeting, in November. No other Afghan factions attended Friday's talks.

Mr Kabulov, the Kremlin envoy, has previously said that international recognition of the Taliban will hinge on the inclusiveness of their government and their human rights record.