From the MT:
“Taliban Rule Will Be a
'Threat' to Russia and the World, Top Panjshir Resistance Member Warns”
(Fahim Dashty)
In an interview with The Moscow
Times, the anti-Taliban National Resistance Front has urged Russia to
prioritize an inclusive Afghanistan. The Taliban’s resurgence in
Afghanistan will lead to a blossoming of radical Islam in the region and will
threaten Russia’s security, a senior member of the Anti-Taliban National
Resistance Front of Afghanistan (NRF) told The Moscow Times on Thursday.
“Russia should be concerned about
the rise of the Taliban. The country will become a terrorist hub that will
endanger Central Asia and Russia itself,” Fahim Dashty told The Moscow Times by
phone from the Panjshir Valley, where his resistance group has gathered as the
country’s last holdout against the Taliban. The Panjshir region is famous for having
successfully fought off invasions by Soviet forces in the Soviet-Afghan war
from 1979-1989 as well as by the Taliban in the 1990s. The NRF is currently led
by Ahmad Massoud, the son of Ahmad Shah Massoud, a powerful guerrilla commander
who led the resistance against the U.S.S.R. The Taliban militants that
have captured Kabul and most of the country “will be a threat to Central Asia
and the world,” Dashty warned. Dashty was a close ally of Ahmad Shah
Massoud, who was assassinated in a suicide bombing instigated by al-Qaeda and
the Taliban on Sept. 9, 2001, an attack in which he was also injured. He now
acts as spokesperson for the slain commander’s son, Ahmad Massoud. Dashty’s
comments to The Moscow Times come as Russia’s leadership appear to be taking an
increasingly apprehensive stance toward Taliban rule and the regional
instability it could bring.
Russia initially signalled it was
ready to work with the Taliban as it swept across the country in recent weeks,
with Moscow making use of its long-term efforts to foster communication
channels with the Islamist group that is still officially a banned terrorist
organization in Russia. In the days following the fall of Kabul, Russia
stressed it preferred negotiating with the Taliban over the previous
U.S.-backed “puppet government” and Russia’s veteran Foreign Minister Sergei
Lavrov praised the group as “reasonable people.” But on Tuesday, President Vladimir Putin
warned of the threat posed to Russia and its Central Asian allies from
terrorists that have taken refuge in Afghanistan following the Taliban’s
takeover. "This is a direct threat to our country and our allies,"
Putin said. Putin earlier urged his
country to prevent an influx of refugees from Afghanistan after the Taliban
takeover, saying militants could enter under the guise of seeking asylum. “Who is among these refugees, how do we know?”
Putin said.
On Wednesday, Russia’s Defense
Minister and close Putin ally Sergei Shoigu said the greatest threat posed by
the Taliban was the “enormous” amount of arms the groups had captured as
American troops hastily exited the country. “The first and major threat is that the
Taliban received an enormous amount of weapons. Enormous,” Shoigu said, adding
that he believed the Islamists now had hundreds of armored vehicles, aircraft
and helicopters. The same day, Russia announced that it would evacuate up to
500 of its citizens and other ex-Soviet countries’ nationals from Afghanistan
on four transport planes despite earlier statements by officials saying that
the Taliban had restored order in Kabul. “Of course Russia is concerned. We
still don’t know what the intentions of the Taliban are and how effectively
they can control the country,“ said Andrei Kortunov, the general director of
the Russian International Affairs Council, a foreign policy think-tank close to
the Russian government. “There are legitimate concerns about other
organizations, including al-Qaeda and the Islamic State. Russia should also be
worried about the potentially catastrophic socioeconomic situation in the
country as global aid dries up. It is too early to be calm,” Kortunov said. The
Taliban has repeatedly tried calming Russia’s concerns. Spokesman Mohammad
Sohail Shaheen said during a Moscow visit last month that the Taliban “won’t
allow anyone to use the Afghan territory to attack Russia or neighboring
countries.” And in an interview with the
Al Mayadeen television channel this week, Shaheen reiterated that the group had
“good relations” with Russia.
Russia will also have to navigate
the concerns of its long-term allies in the region, several of which are home
to Russian military bases, on top of managing its ties with the Taliban. On Wednesday, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon
said that an inclusive government in Kabul was necessary. Tajiks are the
second-largest ethnic group in the country, making up more than a quarter of
the Afghan population. Rahmon said he
will reject a government “created by humiliation and ignoring the interests of
the people of Afghanistan as a whole, including those of ethnic minorities,
such as Tajiks, Uzbeks and others.” Tajikistan
is home to Russia’s largest foreign military base and has been actively staging
exercises with Russian and Uzbek forces in recent months in the face of Afghan
instability. In a sign of support to its
regional allies, Russia on Thursday announced it received new orders for arms
and helicopters from the Central Asian republics bordering Afghanistan. With the Taliban reported to have surrounded
the National Resistance Front in recent days, Dashty urged Russia to take a
leading role in pushing the Taliban to negotiate with the NRF. “Russia has good
communication channels with the Taliban. They should push the Taliban to enter
a meaningful negotiation for an inclusive government. That is also in the
interests of Russia and other countries.” The Taliban, al-Qaeda and Islamic
State are terrorist organizations banned in Russia.
^ Russia should have worked with
the US and other countries so that the Taliban would not have been able to
capture the whole country and become the major threat it now is. ^
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