Russia continues to support Afghanistan in its fight against terrorism, particularly by cooperating with the Taliban administration against groups such as ISIS-K and offering to help stabilise regional security, according to ABC News.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that, “according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, the production of opiates in the country decreased by 90 per cent since 2022.”
Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi accused neighbouring Pakistan of pursuing a hostile policy that serves neither Pakistan nor Afghanistan.
Moscow on Monday hosted high-level talks with a Taliban delegation and representatives from China, India, Iran, Pakistan and Central Asian nations to discuss regional stability.
The latest round of consultations ended without the adoption of a joint statement. Russia’s presidential envoy for Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov, said the talks faced disagreements between the Afghan and Pakistani representatives over the text of the proposed final statement.
The latest phase of hostilities between Pakistan and Afghanistan has involved air raids and border skirmishes, with Islamabad accusing Kabul of supporting terrorist and separatist groups. The Taliban government has rejected the accusations, saying Pakistani strikes mainly affect civilians.
Kabulov said Russia was ready to help defuse tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
“Russia stands ready to help end this conflict using all possible means and acting independently or together with other partners if both parties ask for it,” Kabulov told reporters.
The Moscow Format of consultations on Afghanistan was created in 2017, bringing together delegations from Russia, Afghanistan, India, Pakistan and China. The latest round included the original group of countries, along with four post-Soviet Central Asian states — Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Belarus and Egypt were invited as guests.
Since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in August 2021 following the withdrawal of US and NATO forces, the group has sought international recognition while enforcing its strict interpretation of Islamic law.
In July 2025, Russia became the first country to recognise the Taliban government after removing the group from its list of outlawed organisations.
Speaking during Monday’s talks, Lavrov said that “the powerful military machine of the United States and their NATO allies was broken by the fighting spirit and resilience of the Afghans”.
The former Soviet Union fought a 10-year war in Afghanistan that ended with Moscow withdrawing its troops in 1989. Over the past decade, Moscow has sought to bolster its influence in the region by hosting regular consultations on Afghanistan involving senior representatives of the Taliban and neighbouring nations.
Lavrov noted that the Taliban’s “successes in the fight against narcotics and terrorism are to a significant extent linked to the ongoing military-technical cooperation between our countries”.
Russia’s top diplomat also reaffirmed that Moscow views the deployment of any NATO military infrastructure on the territory of Afghanistan and neighbouring countries as “categorically unacceptable”.
“Historical experience shows that such a presence is fraught with destabilisation and escalating conflict,” Lavrov said.
He also emphasised that Russia would continue to provide humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan.
Officials from China, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan took part in the talks.
With the eighth round ending without a joint statement, Russia has now offered to help bridge the differences between Afghanistan and Pakistan as tensions between the two neighbours continue to pose a challenge to regional stability.
(With agency inputs from Reuters and AP via PTI)
