‘PRELIMINARY’ AGREEMENT SIGNED BETWEEN TALIBAN AND RUSSIA FOR OIL, GAS, AND WHEAT

Thu 29 September 2022:

Taliban representatives on Wednesday said, that Afghanistan’s government has signed a provisional agreement with Russia to import wheat and petroleum products at a reduced price.

According to Akhundzada Abdul Salam Jawad, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, the agreement calls for the annual purchase of two million tonnes of wheat, one million tonnes of gasoline, one million tonnes of diesel, and half a million tonnes of cooking gas.

He stated that the importation process was anticipated to “start soon” for Afghanistan, which has been thrown into an economic crisis as a result of the country’s reliance on development aid being halted after the Taliban took control last year.

Haji Nooruddin Azizi, the acting commerce and industry minister, told the Reuters news agency the agreement would run for an unspecified trial period, after which both sides were expected to sign a longer-term deal if they were content with the arrangement.

Azizi said his ministry was working to diversify its trading partners and that Russia had offered the Taliban administration a discount compared with average global commodity prices.

There were no immediate comments by Russia’s energy and agriculture ministries.

The move could help to ease the isolation that has effectively cut it off from the global banking system amid a worsening humanitarian crisis.

However, Russian Special Presidential Envoy for Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov confirmed the provisional agreements on the shipment of fuel and grain to Afghanistan.

Western sanctions imposed as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have severely hurt Russia. To support its economy, it has been compelled by the unprecedented measures to increase exports to Asian nations, particularly China and India.

Russia, like every other country, does not formally recognize the Taliban as the legitimate government. But before they took back control in August 2021, the movement’s leaders were hosted in Moscow.

After the US froze $7 billion of its assets held there, Afghanistan’s banking sector came dangerously close to collapse.

Officials from the Taliban have insisted that they want to do business with the rest of the world.