MOSCOW, September 28. /TASS/. Russia fulfills its contractual obligations to supply petroleum products to Afghanistan, but "there has never been any talk" about sending arms to the interim Taliban (outlawed in Russia) government, Russian Special Presidential Representative for Afghanistan, Director of the Foreign Ministry’s Second Asian Department Zamir Kabulov told RTVI.
"The Afghans entered into a contract on supplies of petroleum products with Russia last year. I can confirm that this cooperation continues," he said, adding however that "there has never been any talk about arms." "Russia does not supply arms to the Taliban. They have enough," the diplomat stressed.
The Afghan government is primarily interested in infrastructure projects, he noted. "For example, everyone remembers the great contribution made by the Soviet Union, which constructed over 140 facilities in Afghanistan. Most of them are now abandoned," Kabulov said. "The Taliban has turned to Moscow asking for their reconstruction, but it is hardly possible now. Russia’s resources are limited," he said.
Speaking about supplies of petroleum products from Russia to Afghanistan, the Special Presidential Representative noted that they "have a quite positive effect on the consumer market." "That said, fuel is also delivered to Afghanistan from Iran and Turkmenistan," he added.
Kabulov admitted that Russia and Afghanistan do not have "a breakthrough project" at this point, though "there are several large-scale ideas that Russia could theoretically join in on."
He mentioned the construction of the TAPI (Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India) gas pipeline from Turkmenistan through Afghanistan and further on to Pakistan and India, as an example, as well as the CASA-1000 project on electricity supplies from Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan to Afghanistan and Pakistan. "Of course, 1,000 MW is better than nothing, though it is still a drop in the bucket of what Afghanistan needs," the diplomat explained.
"Finally, another project promoted by our Uzbek and Pakistani partners is the construction of the Trans-Afghan railroad, which requires huge resources, both financial and logistic," he said. "The Soviet Union spent a great deal of time building a road through the Salang pass, and this railroad is a much more complicated project," Kabulov noted.