In an interview with TASS, Zamir Kabulov, director of the ministry’s second Asia department said that the Taliban are not an enemy of Russia, despite the fact that Russia has not officially recognized the new regime and the Taliban movement remains outlawed in Russia.
“I don’t mean to say that the Taliban are our number one friends but, obviously, they are not enemies. The Taliban openly say that they trust Russia as the former Soviet Union’s successor,” Kabulov said after the Russian-Indian consultations on Afghanistan.
“The Taliban are former mujahid who fought against the Soviet army and the former Afghan regime that was supported by the Soviet Union. And having fought against other foreign troops, they came to the conclusion that the Soviet Union not only waged a war in Afghanistan but also built. And that the Soviet Union had no expansionist plans. Yes, the Soviet Union had its specific worldviews, which ran counter of Afghanistan’s traditional views. The Taliban consider that our actions were wrong but they give credit to the real contribution to Afghanistan’s modernization made by the Society Union,” he said.
While Kabulov said Russia has not yet officially recognized the current regime in Kabul, Russia maintains relations via its embassy and Kabul operates a mission in Russia at the level of a charge d’affaires and has military and trade attachés.
