russia deepens ties with the taliban
russia plans to open a travel agency for trips to Afghanistan, which will send groups of three to five people for two weeks, allegedly to “explore Afghan culture.”There are also reports that the “Taliban” will send a delegation of several hundred people to the economic forum in kazan scheduled for May.
These developments indicate an intensifying deepening of official ties between russia and the de facto authorities in Afghanistan. Just last week, the russian government removed the “Taliban” from its list of terrorist organizations, where the Islamist radical group had been listed for 22 years.
Thus, russia is strengthening cooperation with the “Taliban,” aiming to use Afghanistan as a transit hub to bypass sanctions, facilitate the delivery of needed goods, and export gas to India.
