Russia is building a “full-fledged” partnership with the Taliban government in Afghanistan, Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu said on Thursday, May 14. He was speaking at a Shanghai Cooperation Organization security meeting in Kyrgyzstan. The group is led by Russia and China.
Shoigu called the dialogue with Kabul “pragmatic” and said it serves regional security and economic development. TASS, the state news agency, quoted him: “We’re consistently building a full-fledged partnership ranging from political and security contacts to trade, economic and cultural and humanitarian cooperation.”
Militants and Western responsibility
Shoigu claimed that up to 23,000 members of more than 20 militant groups are still active inside Afghanistan. He gave Kabul credit for what he described as a “fierce armed struggle” against the Islamic State.
He also had a message for Washington. The United States, he said, should take “full responsibility” for its 20-year presence in Afghanistan and “assume the main burden” of rebuilding the country after the conflict. Shoigu, who was Russia’s defense minister from 2012 to 2024, said he opposed attempts by other countries to put military forces there. Russia has said previously that it has no plans of its own to deploy troops in Afghanistan.
A relationship years in the making
The Taliban retook power in 2021, overthrowing the U.S.-backed government and imposing a strict version of Islamic law. Three years later, President Vladimir Putin described the movement as “allies in the fight against terrorism.”
Moscow went further last July. It took the Taliban off its list of terrorist organizations, accepted the Taliban’s ambassador in Moscow, and became the first country to recognize the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.
