Afghan Voice Agency (AVA) - Kabul: After more than three years, for the first time, Sergei Shoigu, Secretary of the National Security Council of Russia, at the head of a high-ranking delegation, met with the deputy prime ministers and acting ministers of the defense and interior ministries during a trip to Kabul. Many political observers and experts consider the visit of this high-ranking Russian delegation to Afghanistan a sign of the future expansion of relations between the two countries in various political and economic areas.

The Russian delegation, in addition to the Secretary of the National Security Council of the country, Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Averbukh and Deputy Secretary of the Security Council Alexander Vindiktov, was also present, as was Zamir Kabulov, Russia's special representative for Afghanistan, the Russian ambassador to Kabul, and a number of other officials of the country.

According to a statement published by "Arg", Shoigu said in this meeting that Russia is ready to implement infrastructure projects in various sectors in Afghanistan, including railways, transport, industry, agriculture, electricity, and mines.

He added that political and security developments in Afghanistan have made Russian investors interested in investing in Afghanistan.

Shoigu emphasized the activation of Afghanistan's presence in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the removal of the Islamic Emirate from Russia's banned list.

 

Efforts to prevent the US from re-infiltrating Afghanistan and the region

International relations experts also evaluate the Kabul-Moscow relations positively for long-term cooperation in the security and economic fields.

International relations expert Sayed Abdul Latif Sajjadi said in an interview with Ava: Russia is seeking to create a powerful pole in the world by creating the BRICS axis, in order to practically save the world from unipolarity. According to him, the Russian delegation's visit to Afghanistan is also mainly due to the fact that it is preventing the West from influencing the region.

From Sajjadi's perspective, Afghanistan, as a country that was once the backyard of the Eastern Bloc, has gained great importance these days so that after Trump's victory, the Americans cannot influence Afghanistan again and on the other hand, Afghanistan is not left on its own, so the Russians are ready to cooperate in the security and economic fields with Afghanistan.

According to this international relations expert, in such circumstances, Russia wants to have Afghanistan on its side or on the side of the BRICS in order to maintain the Eastern Pole with all its capabilities against NATO and the West.

According to Sajjadi, Russia's main political motivation for the recent visit of its delegation to Afghanistan is that the United States will no longer be able to roam freely anywhere, especially in Afghanistan. He added: The Russians are mainly seeking to have peaceful relations and interaction with Afghanistan, based on which the interests of both countries will be secured, and at the same time, the United States will not be able to use Afghanistan as a threat against the powers of the East and Central Asia, either directly or through its proxy groups.

Is Russia's declared policy the same as its actions towards Afghanistan?

Mohammad Hakim Naseri, a political analyst, also told Ava that Moscow's emphasis on engaging with the current Afghan government to reduce the threat of terrorism is its declaratory policy, but we hope that it will be so in practice. It is no longer politically and economically viable for long-term goals.

According to Naseri, Afghanistan is of great importance in the region and the world in terms of military, geopolitical and geoeconomic markets and overall geographical location, which attracts the attention of many countries for various reasons.

"It is not only Russia that is looking to Afghanistan to achieve its goals, but also the countries of the region and the world see Afghanistan as a platform to achieve some of their goals," he added.

According to Naseri, Afghanistan is located in the heart of Asia, a country that can connect the north to the south and the east to the west, and as a crossroads, eliminate economic and trade traffic and facilitate transit between countries and On the other hand, Afghanistan's underground reserves and natural resources are almost untouched wealth that has attracted the attention of many countries. It attracts itself. According to some research, Afghanistan's lithium alone is worth as much as Saudi Arabia's entire oil.

According to him, it is not without reason that Afghanistan has been repeatedly occupied and invaded by colonial countries throughout history. It does not have an international level, but many countries are trying to engage with the Islamic Emirate and expand relations on a de facto basis.

The Kremlin spokesman says relations with the current government are essential to counter terrorist threats from Afghanistan, but Naseri sees these statements as more declarative policy than reality.

He adds that Russia is one of the countries that wants to maintain its presence in Afghanistan from a political and economic point of view and at the same time monitor and control its global rivals, as the West pursues these goals and its presence. in Afghanistan is necessary in any circumstances.

 

It is worth mentioning that Russia has been making extensive efforts to facilitate intra-Afghan dialogues to achieve political and security stability in the country since long before the fall of the republic in Afghanistan, especially in the framework of the Moscow Format Summit, and has established good relations with the Emirate. Islamic establishment that continued with greater strength after the fall of the republic. Based on these relations, today travel and relations between Russia and Afghanistan are expanding and Russian investors are very interested in investing in the country.

In the meantime, the Islamic Emirate is interested in joining the BRICS and Russia is also trying to remove the Taliban from the list of banned groups in the country.