Russia Should Maintain Normal Relations with Any Government of Afghanistan

"Russia should maintain normal relations with any government of Afghanistan," stated the Russian Foreign Ministry. The Russian Foreign Ministry has announced that it is already establishing relations with the Taliban, who have seized power in Afghanistan. This was declared on August 30 by the Special Representative of the Russian President in Afghanistan, Director of the Second Asian Department of the Foreign Ministry, Azim Kabulov, as reported by TASS.

"Our embassy is operating in Kabul and is quite active. We have long established such contacts. And we need to establish… We must maintain normal relations with any government of Afghanistan. We, like many others, have certain concerns about the further geopolitical situation in the country, the preservation of fundamental norms, and human rights; however, despite all this, we must take into account the peculiarities of the Afghan people, their cultural and religious characteristics," he added.

According to him, Russia does not rule out new airstrikes by the U.S. on targets in Afghanistan and expects that the weapons left by American forces will not be used for a new civil war in the country.

Kabulov believes that the West should not create additional obstacles for normalizing the situation in the country. Additionally, he stated that Russia is ready to participate in discussions regarding the socio-economic recovery of Afghanistan.

In his opinion, to accurately assess the situation related to refugees, representatives of the UN should return to Afghanistan.