Following the comments of Russian officials, including Vladimir Putin, the president of this country, regarding the relations between the Islamic Emirate and Moscow; Dmitry Zhirnov, the Russian ambassador in Kabul, said that the Islamic Emirate has become an ally of Moscow in the war against terrorism. According to him, Moscow and the government of the Islamic Emirate have decided to use Russian rubles instead of US dollars in their economic transactions.

Afghan Voice Agency (AVA) - Kabul: In an interview with Tass news agency published on Saturday, 30, the Russian ambassador in Kabul said that the Islamic Emirate has arrested a number of terrorists in different parts of Afghanistan and they are keeping them in solitary cells in Pul Charkhi prison. 

Zhirnov said: "Certainly, the Taliban are our allies in the war against terrorism. They [Islamic Emirate] are working to eliminate terrorist cells."

In this interview, the Russian ambassador in Kabul mentioned the actions of the Islamic Emirate government against the Khorasan branch of ISIS in Afghanistan and said: "The Taliban is trying to expel this group from Afghanistan."

The senior Russian diplomat said: "The security situation is changing. ISIS is the enemy of the Taliban and they are putting pressure on this group to drive them out. There is a possibility that the Taliban will increase the pressure on them [ISIS]."

According to Zhirnov, if the United States did not freeze the assets of the Central Bank of Afghanistan and impose sanctions on the country, the government of the Islamic Emirate would have sufficient resources, while now it does not have enough resources due to these sanctions.

In this interview, the Russian ambassador also made statements about the Islamic Emirate government's fight against drugs and said that satellite images show that the entire poppy crop in Afghanistan has been destroyed.

He said: "There may be five percent or less [of the poppy crop] left. It can be seen in the satellite images."

In this interview, Dmitry Zhirnov, the Russian ambassador to Afghanistan, also mentioned the visits of high-ranking officials of the Islamic Emirate government to Russia.

According to Zhirnov, only in the first half of 2024, the heads of the ministries of higher education, industry and trade of the Islamic Emirate government, the heads of the Chamber of Commerce and Investment and the Afghan Olympic Committee have traveled to Russia.

The Russian ambassador added that last year the delegations of the Islamic Emirate had more trips than this. He also mentioned the participation of the delegation of the Islamic Emirate in the economic meeting in Kazan, Russia.

The Russian ambassador in Kabul has said that in order to deal with the Western countries' sanctions on Afghanistan, Moscow and the Islamic Emirate government have decided to use Russian rubles instead of American dollars in their economic transactions.

Referring to the expansion of economic and trade relations between Russia and the Islamic Emirate government, he said: "Our exports are growing rapidly".