KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A Russian delegation headed by Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk arrived Thursday in Kabul for trade and investment talks with Afghanistan's Taliban government, Afghan officials said.
Russia officially recognized the Taliban government in July 2025. It remains the only country to have done so since the former insurgent group seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021 in the wake of the withdrawal of U.S.-led troops from the country. Largely isolated from the international community and with a struggling economy, Kabul has been keen to increase foreign investment and open new trade avenues.
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After being greeted by an honor guard, Overchuk met with Prime Minister Mohammad Hasan Akhund and Abdul Ghani Baradar, the deputy prime minister for economic affairs.
A statement from Akhund's office said the prime minister's meeting with Overchuk was also attended by Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi.
The Afghan government said in posts on its official X social media account that in their meeting, Baradar stressed Afghanistan’s potential for economic development and investment, highlighting “its strategic location, rich resources and a large workforce of 24 million people of working age.”
During the meeting, Baradar invited Russian companies to invest in Afghanistan in sectors including mineral extraction, the development of factories, infrastructure and special economic zones. He also said there was scope to expand exports of Afghan agricultural products to Russia, and for Russian investment in Afghanistan’s agriculture and livestock farming, the government said.
The deputy prime minister also asked Russia “to provide the necessary facilities for Afghan products in Russian markets and to cooperate in reducing transportation and transit costs,” the government statement said. It said that Baradar also spoke of investment opportunities in railway and road construction projects.
Russia's Interfax news agency quoted Overchuk as saying that Russia intends to develop trade ties with Afghanistan.
“Today our delegation includes more than 70 businessmen representing dozens of Russian companies, many of which already work in Afghanistan, (while) many want to begin working,” Interfax quoted him as saying. “For our part, first of all, we see the task in creating conditions for contacts between business communities to develop normally.”
Overchuk said that companies represented in the delegation are involved in transportation, logistics, agriculture and pharmaceuticals. He said that the Afghan government is interested in Russian fertilizers, including in “building fertilizer production plants directly in Afghanistan.”
“We see a big interest from the government of Afghanistan in developing relations with Russia,” Overchuk said, according to Interfax. “And we are ready to support Afghanistan in that. First and foremost, so that the economy develops, jobs are created, people have normal incomes and can live peacefully.”
While no country apart from Russia has offered formal recognition, the Taliban have engaged in high-level talks with many nations and established some diplomatic and economic ties with several countries, including the governments of China and the United Arab Emirates.
The Afghan government statement on the meeting quoted Overchuk as saying that trade between Russia and Afghanistan had more than doubled in the first eight months of 2026, reaching more than $349 million.
