Kremlin: Taliban want Russia to help develop the Afghanistan’s natural resources
The Taliban would like Russia's participation in the development of the Afghan economy, including mining, transport and energy projects, said on the talk show "Solovyov Live" the Russian ambassador in Kabul Dmitry Zhirnov.
"The Taliban are open to our participation in the economy, including the development of natural resources," he said, adding that now this is a question for Russian business.
The Taliban, according to Zhirnov, are interested in "establishing trade and economic cooperation," including in the field of transport and energy, and for this they need a "peaceful border" with Central Asia.
The Russian embassy has "close cooperation" with the Taliban, the ambassador said, adding that after the new government came to Kabul, there was more order and drug addicts and hooligans disappeared.
"Embassies that trust their eyes, not the Western media, are not leaving," Zhirnov said.
"There is no alternative to the Taliban," he said. "This is a reality in every sense. It is a real force that controls not only the capital, but the whole country."
The day before it became known that Taliban militants began to block Afghans’ access to the Kabul airport, setting up a checkpoint and checking for citizenship or an invitation from a NATO country. They also banned any transfer of dollars out of the country, thus cutting off citizens from the opportunity to take with them savings and valuables.
The official representative of the Taliban, Zabihullah Mujahid, in an interview with The New York Times accused Western countries of stealing valuable people from the country.
"They should not interfere in the affairs of our country and take away human resources: doctors, professors and other people that we need here. In America, they will become cooks or dishwashers. It's inhumane," he said, adding that anyone with legal documents for leaving the country would be free to enter the capital's airport.
According to Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF), Afghanistan's mineral reserves could amount to about $1 trillion in monetary terms. The country has about 60 million tons of copper, 2.2 billion tons of iron ore, 1.4 million tons of rare earth metals, including lanthanum, cerium, neodymium, and arguably the world's largest reserves of lithium, a key component for the production of ion batteries. It is also believed that Afghanistan has deposits of aluminum, gold, silver, zinc and mercury.