Russia–Taliban Defense Pact Signals Maintenance-First Security Alignment and Regional Balancing
A May 27 Russia–Afghanistan (Taliban-led) military-technical agreement, with undisclosed details, is assessed by the source as focused on refurbishing legacy Soviet/Russian equipment and expanding counterterrorism and intelligence coordination rather than mutual defense guarantees. Moscow appears to be balancing deeper engagement with Kabul against maintaining workable ties with Pakistan and managing concerns from Tajikistan, while parallel economic initiatives advance slowly due to security conditions.