LONDON: Russia has stepped up its financial support of the Taliban in Afghanistan in recent months to stave off the rise of Islamic State, Taliban officials have said.
The Time quoted Taliban officials as saying that the Russia was supporting them also to avenge its defeat by western-backed fighters nearly 30 years ago. The Times said in a report on Monday that it had spoken to a 23-year-old treasurer of Taliban in Afghanistan who told the paper that Moscow delivered cash into the hands of Taliban commanders.
“The Russian fuel supplies began coming to us 18 months ago,” the Taliban official told The Times. “At first it was just a few tankers to test the system. But then the numbers suddenly increased so that dozens were coming each month. The Russians give it all to us for free — we just pay the import duty and then keep the profits.”
Most of the fuel is sold on by Taliban front companies to businessmen in Kabul. The money is then transferred through the “hawala” system used by militant groups across the Islamic world, said the paper.
“I just deal with the finances of a few Taliban commanders in one sector in one province,” the treasurer told. “I transfer them the money and then account for its distribution. But there are many other people like me.”
Its understood that the fuel scheme is around $2.5 million a month to the Taliban and was “one of many” methods of Russian funding to the group. The Times claimed that the young official “agreed to be interviewed on the authority of a senior adviser to the Quetta Shura”, adding that the senior adviser was himself a former specialist bomb maker from Sangin who was involved in numerous operations against coalition and Afghan units before accepting a political role within the group.
The senior 37-year-old Taliban official told the paper that Kremlin’s present support for Taliban accelerated when Islamic State established a foothold in Afghanistan in 2014. “The Russians are afraid that if we become weak then Islamic State will grow stronger in Afghanistan, which will be a big headache for them — and for us,” he told the paper. The Times said it was respecting wish of both advisers to withhold their identity. “So now it’s about money, warm relations and weapons. Russia has lost its faith in this government to beat Islamic State. So, the Taliban have become their default choice of ally.”
The adviser said he had met Hibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban’s leader in Afghanistan, in Helmand six weeks ago. Russia’s presence in the region dates back to the 19th century when it began competing with Britain for influence in central Asia in what came to be known as the “Great Game”.
That first Great Game ended with the 19th century but in December 1979 Russian forces invaded Afghanistan in support of Kremlin loyalists. Thousands of Russian troops were killed by Afghan insurgents using weaponry supplied by the West and after a decade of fighting they withdrew.
