Taliban, Russia are cozying up to each other — why?

The acting defense minister in the Taliban regime , Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob, stepped off a flight in Kabul last week to deliver a warning to Pakistan .

Islamabad, he said, would "soon no longer dare" to attack Afghan territory due to the military-technical cooperation agreement he had just signed in Moscow.

He also said the implementation of the agreement with Russia would begin shortly.

At the same time, Yaqoob tried to downplay any international concerns about military cooperation between the regime and Moscow. The agreement, he insisted, was not a defense or security pact. It was focused on repairing and maintaining Russian-made weapons systems already in Afghanistan's arsenal, including helicopters and other aircraft.

He even suggested similar arrangements could be made with the United States , noting that American weapons had also been left in the wake of the NATO invasion of Afghanistan .

This dual message — deterrence toward Pakistan, reassurance toward the wider region — illustrates how both the Taliban regime and Russian President Vladimir Putin's government frame their budding relationship: Rather than being an ideological alliance, it is a pragmatic exchange in which both sides see immediate gains.

The Russian government and the Taliban signed the military-technical cooperation agreement on May 27 on the sidelines of a security conference near Moscow. The full details have not been made public.

Russia's special envoy for Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov, said the agreement focuses on repairing Russian-made equipment and could pave the way for future defense contracts. For now, he added, the main priority is restoring systems already in Afghanistan's possession.