A Russian - Taliban Alliance?

Photo: AFP/Getty

Daily Beast: A Taliban-Russia Team-Up Against ISIS?

The Taliban are quietly opening dialogues with the former Soviet states on Afghanistan’s border, and with Moscow.

KABUL — The Taliban are not as lonely as they once were. The pariahs who protected Osama bin Laden and quickly collapsed when the U.S. counter-attacked after September 11, 2001, have been developing contacts with neighboring states and even with Russia, driven out of Afghanistan in 1989.

There’s nothing simple about this picture, and, interestingly, it appears partly tied to Russian efforts to oppose the spread in Afghanistan of groups pledging allegiance to the so-called Islamic State in Syria and Iraq. That same concern has helped to forge links between the Taliban and their long-time enemies in Iran.

And the Russian connection is emerging, ironically, at the same time that Afghanistan’s Uzbek warlord and vice president, Abdul Rashid Dostum, has openly warmed to his one-time allies in Russia and tried to strengthen ties to the former Soviet states on Afghan frontier.

WNU Editor: Putin has been warning about this since this summer .... IS group 'tentacles' in Afghanistan growing concern: Putin (AFP). The Russian media is also eagerly reporting that Moscow has set-up back channels with the Taliban .... Russia Has Communication Channel With Taliban - Foreign Ministry Official (Sputnik). What's my take .... this would have been unheard of a year or two ago .... today .... no one is surprised.