Taliban MNE in Moscow for meeting with Lavrov

Dand according to a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, during the visit of Amir Khan Muttaqi, bilateral meetings with Sergey Lavrov, but also “other Russian senior officials” should be held.

The eighth meeting of the so-called Moscow Format, a block of regional dialogue, will take place on Monday and will gather representatives and senior officials from Afghanistan, Russia, China, India, Iran, Pakistan and several Central Asian countries.

Belarus and Egypt were also invited as visiting countries.

This regional meeting should focus on political and economic cooperation between Afghanistan and neighbouring countries, as well as on joint efforts to combat terrorism and drug trafficking, as previously indicated by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Moscow Format is a consultation platform on Afghanistan created by Russia in 2017 to coordinate a regional response to the Afghan crisis, often seen as a counterweight to Western influence.

The journey of the main Taliban diplomat takes place shortly after a high-level delegation from the Afghan Ministry of Defense took part in the joint strategic military exercises “Centro-2026” in Russia, where they observed maneuvers involving heavy weapons and advanced technology.

Kabul and Moscow have progressively intensified their security relations and in May of this year, the two parties signed a technical-military agreement with the aim of maintaining and modernising the arsenal of Russian-made weapons in Afghanistan, including aircraft and helicopters.

After the start of the war in Ukraine in February 2022 and the international condemnation of Moscow, the de facto government of the Taliban was among the few who immediately supported the Russians.

Russia became, in 2025, the first world power to formally recognise the Taliban government as the legitimate authority in Afghanistan.