Russia's Growing Afghan Re-Engagement

The historical baggage weighing on the Russo-Afghan relationship is apparently in the process of being jettisoned. The two countries have been cautiously reaching out and engaging each other for quite some time now. Afghan President Hamid Karzai's state visit to Moscow on 20–21 January 2011 – the first by an Afghan head of state in more than two decades – could be perceived as a major step forward. Interestingly, despite lingering differences and competing interests, both Russia and the West too, at the same time, have been acquiescing to each other's position and role as the Afghan war enters into its fourth decade.