Russia does not see threats from the Taliban for the Central Asian states, stated the special representative of the President of the Russian Federation for Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov on the First Channel.

“We do not see a direct threat to our allies in Central Asia. There is not a single fact to the contrary, "Kabulov said.

According to him, Russia has established links and contacts with the Taliban movement in Afghanistan in advance, which has become a foreign policy asset.

“The fact that we prepared the ground ahead of time for a conversation with the new government in Afghanistan is an asset of Russian foreign policy, which we use to the fullest in the long-term interests of the Russian Federation,” the diplomat emphasized.

Earlier, he said that Russia is not afraid that the Taliban will resemble another radical group - the Islamic State. According to him, the movement is supported by "some Islamic funds", which are located mainly in the Persian Gulf. At the same time, no one has supplied weapons to the militants in recent years - they bought them from the warehouses of the Afghan army and police, and also took ammunition that they managed to get during the hostilities.

On August 15, the radical Taliban movement announced the establishment of control over the entire territory of Afghanistan. Its representatives took over state television in Kabul and in their address called on citizens for calm. The movement has abandoned the idea of ​​a transitional government, stressing that they are waiting for a complete transfer of power.

Taliban representatives stated that “not a single hair will fall from the heads of Russian diplomats in Afghanistan,” while the Russian ambassador in Kabul, Dmitry Zhirnov, stated that the Taliban is providing the security for the embassy instead of the Afghan military.

“Our embassy is guarded by the Taliban,” said the Russian ambassador in Kabul, Dmitry Zhirnov. “There was a handover today: the Afghan soldiers are gone, those soldiers from the Afghan National Security Forces who were guarding us.”
Earlier, media outlets reported that the Taliban control more than 90% of Afghan government buildings and almost all major checkpoints in Kabul.