By Radio Azadi
July 9, 2021
Taliban representatives visited Moscow on July 8 seeking to provide assurances that recent gains across Afghanistan do not pose a threat to Russia or Central Asian states.
Taliban fighters have captured large swaths of territory in northern Afghanistan as government forces collapse with the U.S. troop exit from the country.
Taliban advances have sent hundreds of Afghan government troops fleeing into Tajikistan, which hosts a Russian military base, and threatens to create a refugee influx.
In response to concerns the conflict could spill across the border, Tajikistan this week announced plans to reinforce its border with an additional 20,000 troops.
Districts along the border with Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan have also fallen to the militants, raising concerns in Moscow about instability in a region it considers its backyard.
The Russian-led CSTO military alliance, which includes Tajikistan, reiterated on July 8 that it was ready to mobilize if the situation on Tajikistan’s border with Afghanistan deteriorated.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said the Kremlin’s special envoy for Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov held talks with a delegation of the Taliban, urging the Islamist group to prevent the conflict in Afghanistan from spilling across borders.
“We received assurances from the Taliban that they wouldn’t violate the borders of Central Asian countries and also their guarantees of security for foreign diplomatic and consular missions in Afghanistan,” the Ministry said.
Suhail Shaheen, a spokesman for the Taliban’s political office, said the delegation discussed preventing drug trafficking and reiterated that Afghan territory under their control would not be used to threaten neighbors.
He also said all border crossings under the control of the Taliban would remain open and that the group’s fighters would not target diplomatic missions and nongovernmental organizations.
With reporting by AFP, AP, Reuters, and TASS