Russia-Taliban defence agreement: Post-mortem

MOSCOW, on the sidelines of an international security conference, Russia and the Taliban have signed a defence agreement. It is not clear whether it is an agreement or an Mo U. Moscow does not take any action without deliberation. What will be the implications? It will only be possible to dissect once the complete details are available and scrutinized. So far, no formal announcement has been made by Moscow. During the conference, Indian security advisor Ajit Doval was also in Moscow. Whether he met the Taliban Defence Minister or not is not known. Nevertheless, even if they met, it is no surprise since India is supporting the Taliban and other elements operating against Pakistan from Afghan soil. Nevertheless, it is a matter of concern for Pakistan. Pakistan will take it very seriously and every aspect needs to be debated and scrutinized. The issue is not that simple since this agreement points towards the beginning of a new Great Game in the regional and global power architecture. On the American withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2022, they left billions of dollars’ worth of military equipment, refusing to hand it over to Pakistan. It is being used by the Taliban and other terrorist groups against Pakistan. The Taliban initially claimed they had nothing to do with the TTP and other terrorist setups. The Doha Agreement stipulates they will not allow the use of Afghan soil. Yet, terrorist outfits came out in the open with the support of the regime, which itself is a party. Presently, Afghan territory is the centre of gravity of all terrorist operating groups, almost 21 in number. They are openly being supported by Indian RAW, Mossad and CIA to further their strategic interests. In the global arena, there are no friends and enemies among countries; there is nothing but commonality of interest. The strategic vacuum created after the withdrawal of American forces could not remain vacant. On one side, they did not honour the commitment in Doha to establish a broad-based gove