Russia-Afghanistan Relations

Maintaining security and stability in Central Asia seems to be a key pillar of Russia’s Afghan calculus. By positioning itself as an interlocutor of the Taliban, Russia aims to project...

Russia’s policy on Afghanistan has witnessed considerable transformation during the last two decades. This has allowed Moscow to change its stance towards the Taliban from confrontation to accommodation. The article...

In December 2015, the Russian Foreign Ministry revealed that Russia was engaging in intelligence sharing with the Taliban to counter the growing presence of the Islamic State in Afghanistan.

Russia’s efforts to differentiate between the Islamic State and Taliban are a mistake given that both groups share a similar ideology, albeit with slight variations.

Russia seems both happy as well as worried about US withdrawal from Afghanistan. Concerns about Central Asian security apart, now with the sectarian strife in West Asia flaring up, the...

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...