A security analyst in Pakistan has warned that changes in Russia\u2019s position on the Taliban administration, and the way Moscow refers to the threat from ISIS, could lead to a redefinition of Russia\u2019s policy in Afghanistan and the emergence of a new geopolitical rivalry in the region.<\/p>\n
According to Iraf, Imtiaz Gul, head of the Pakistan Institute for Research and Security Studies, wrote in a column in the Express Tribune that recent comments by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov have raised serious questions about Moscow\u2019s new objectives in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n
He says Russia is moving closer to the Taliban administration\u2019s narrative on ISIS, a narrative that identifies Pakistan as the source of the group\u2019s activity. According to Gul, this shift comes as relations between the Taliban administration and Pakistan have become strained in recent months, while Moscow has also expressed concern about the presence or return of Western military infrastructure in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n
At the fifth Oct. meeting of the Moscow Format, Lavrov urged participating countries to accept that the Taliban had “successfully governed the country” and praised the group\u2019s security forces for fighting ISIS and other terrorist groups.<\/p>\n
This comes as Moscow in July described ISIS as “Khorasan Province” and as a threat based in Afghanistan. But on Oct. 6, the Russian foreign minister said ISIS\u2019s Pakistani branch was responsible for attacks in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and did not use the term “Khorasan Province.” Gul said this change strengthens the Taliban administration\u2019s narrative.<\/p>\n
The analyst suggested the shift in Russia\u2019s tone could carry a political message to Washington and Islamabad. He wrote that Moscow may be ready to provide security assistance to Kabul if the US and Pakistan support groups opposed to the Taliban administration, an issue he said is notable in light of expanding security contacts and reports of military cooperation between Russia and the Taliban administration in recent years.<\/p>\n
In another part of the analysis, Imtiaz Gul said one possible factor behind Russia\u2019s changed calculations is Moscow\u2019s claim that ammunition was sent from Pakistan to Ukraine. Pakistan has denied the allegation, but the writer believes it may have affected Russia\u2019s view of Pakistan within the framework of Moscow\u2019s rivalry with the US and Europe.<\/p>\n
Gul also wrote that the latest Moscow Format meeting, attended by representatives of Russia, the Taliban administration, Pakistan, Iran, China and several regional countries, took place against the backdrop of deep tensions between the Taliban administration and Pakistan. According to him, the Taliban delegation opposed the proposed text of the final statement, and the meeting ended without a joint declaration, while Pakistan later said the differences were “not just about wording” and that the disputed issues were “fundamental.”<\/p>\n
The analysis comes as the report stresses that relations between the Taliban administration and Pakistan have become significantly strained, with both sides accusing each other of supporting armed groups and reports emerging of increased clashes along the border between the two countries.<\/p>\n
The Moscow Format is one of the regional meetings on Afghanistan that Russia holds to consult with regional actors and parties linked to developments in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A Pakistani analyst says Russia is shifting toward the Taliban’s ISIS narrative, raising concerns over Afghan policy and regional rivalry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":23743,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23744","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-important-news","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23744","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23744"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23744\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}