Taliban-Russia military relations

THE Russian Federation is the only country in the world that has recognized the def-facto Taliban regime in July 2025. Subsequently, it removed the Afghan Taliban from its list of proscribed terrorist organizations. Russia’s sole recognition does not secure international legitimacy for the regime, but its military-technical cooperation agreement, signed on May 27, 2026, will have ramifications for Afghanistan’s neighbouring states. The security observers are debating military-technical cooperation agreement keeping in mind, transnational terrorist syndicates’ sanctuaries located in Afghanistan, regional strategic environment, great powers increasing focus on Afghanistan and increasing insecurity of the neighbouring countries due to Taliban’s patronage of terrorist organizations. Though the Agreement details are classified, yet increasing defense ties between Moscow and Kabul have fuelled speculations. It was reported that the agreement was signed to repair, maintain and modernize the Soviet-era and Russian-made weapons, such as Mi-17 helicopters, currently in the custody of the Afghan Taliban. Presently, Russia and the Taliban have a convergence of interests to eliminate Islamic State Khorasan (ISKP), which threatens Russia’s internal security and poses a challenge to the Taliban in Afghanistan. Besides, Russia, like other neighbours of Afghanistan, desires to end the flow of narcotics across the region. Are the Afghan Taliban capable of containing the ISKP operations from Afghanistan and stopping the flow of narcotics from Afghanistan? In reality, neither the Afghan Taliban has the will nor capacity to eliminate the sanctuaries of terrorist groups in Afghanistan and stop the production and export of narcotics from Afghanistan. Russia has limitations in assisting Kabul politically, militarily and economically. Its entanglement in the protracted war with Ukraine has severely curtailed its role in the regional and international politics. Nevertheless, it had drawn att