Asia Times, 5 October 2026
A very interesting and balanced analysis of the Russia-Pakistan-Taleban triangle, looking at 1) Russia’s invitation to the Taleban to send observers to a military exercise – in which also Pakistani troops participated; 2) reports, or rather rumours (as the author says), that the Taleban are buying drones and other weapons with Indian money in Belarus. He cautions that observing military exercises “doesn’t make the Taliban part of a Russian bloc” and points out that “Moscow has widened its defense and counterterrorism contacts with Islamabad too.”
He observes that the Taleban have evolved
… from an insurgency that leaned on Pakistan into a government that collects partners. Russia wants help against ISIS-K, China wants a quiet border, India wants access, and Pakistan wants the attacks to stop. Those aims sometimes overlap and sometimes collide, and drones raise the stakes of the collisions. The same technology that helps the Taliban hunt ISIS-K could make the next clash with Pakistan deadlier.
And concludes:
I would watch for three things: whether Russian cooperation [with the IEA] becomes clearer than a closed text and a maintenance briefing; whether anyone ever produces paper behind the Belarus [weapons purchase] claim; and whether Pakistan, Russia, China, Iran and the Central Asian states can agree that Afghanistan must not become a proxy arena.
Revisions:
This article was last updated on 8 Oct 2026
