KABUL:
According to officials from the Afghan commerce ministry, negotiations with the Taliban government about the parameters of an agreement for Afghanistan to buy gasoline and benzene from Russia are nearing their conclusion in Moscow.
The spokesman for the Afghan Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Habiburahman Habib, acknowledged that a formal delegation led by the commerce ministry was in the Russian capital finalising agreements for the supply of wheat, gas, and oil.
He told Reuters in a message that “they are in negotiations with the Russian side” and that they would provide further information if the contracts were signed.
A source from the office of the Minister of Commerce and Industry told Reuters technical officials from his ministry and the Ministry of Finance had stayed in Moscow to work on the contracts after a ministerial delegation visited this month.
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“We are working on text of contract, (we have) almost agreed on gasoline and benzene,” said the official, adding they expected it to be finished soon.
Spokespeople at Russia’s foreign and energy ministries did not respond to requests for comment.
The contracts come after a Taliban delegation led by the acting commerce minister visited Russia in mid-August to hold talks on trade.
If completed, the contract would be a sign of foreign countries increasingly doing business with the Taliban, despite its administration not being officially recognised by any international government since it took control of the country after U.S. troops withdrew around a year ago.
It comes as the United States tries to convince other nations to cut down on use of Russian oil, saying the initiative is aimed at curbing the oil revenue that Moscow uses to finance its invasion of Ukraine.
Both Russia and Taliban-led Afghanistan face economic sanctions from international governments, including the United States.
No foreign country, not even Moscow, formally recognises the Taliban regime, and the sanctions have made it difficult for international banks to conduct business with Afghan banks, which has hurt Afghanistan’s banking.
The official source stated that they have a strategy for how payments will be made but would not go into specifics on the use of legitimate banking systems.
Some nations are doing business with Kabul, assisting it to access international markets in the midst of a domestic economic crisis, despite the central bank of Afghanistan’s assets being frozen, its financial sector being constrained by sanctions, and a lack of formal recognition from abroad.
Thousands of tonnes of coal are being shipped daily from Afghanistan to Pakistan, which the latter has hailed as a solution to its energy crisis.
Transactions are carried out by private businesses in each country, and the Taliban administration collects millions of dollars in customs duties on the coal exports.
