The Taliban signed an agreement with Russia to supply fuel and wheat

The Taliban in Afghanistan / Photo: EPA-EFE / JAWAD JALALI

The Taliban signed a temporary agreement with Russia to supply gasoline, diesel, gas and wheat to Afghanistan, told Reuters Acting Minister of Trade and Industry of Afghanistan, Haji Noruddin Azizi.

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

The move, the first known major international economic deal struck by the Taliban since they returned to power more than a year ago, could help ease the Islamist movement's isolation that has effectively cut Kabul off from the global banking system.

No country formally recognizes the group, which fought a 20-year insurgency against Western powers and their local Afghan allies before entering Kabul as US troops were withdrawing.

Western diplomats have said the group needs to change its policies, especially when it comes to human rights, such as those of women, and prove it has cut ties with international militant groups to gain formal recognition.

Russia does not officially recognize the Taliban government, but Moscow hosted the movement's leaders in the wake of Kabul's fall, and its embassy is one of several that remain open in the Afghan capital.

One year after Afghanistan "fell" to the Taliban

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