A senior Taliban figure will lead Afghanistan’s delegation to the upcoming Kazan Forum, scheduled to take place in Kazan, Russia, which began on Tuesday.
Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs and the third-ranking deputy leader of the Taliban, will head the delegation alongside Afghanistan’s Minister of Trade, Nooruddin Azizi.
Baradar, a co-founder of the Taliban and formerly second-in-command to its late leader Mullah Omar, was the chief negotiator during the group’s talks with the United States in 2019 and 2020, which ultimately led to the U.S. withdrawal from its two-decade-long war in Afghanistan.
Russia, which last month officially removed the Taliban from its list of banned organizations and announced the normalization of diplomatic relations—including the acceptance of a Taliban-appointed ambassador in Moscow—is moving swiftly to rebuild ties with Kabul.
Earlier this year, the Afghan government reached a preliminary agreement with Moscow for the transit of 50 million cubic meters of liquefied natural gas (LNG) through Afghanistan. The agreement is expected to be formally signed during the Kazan Forum.
In parallel, on Friday, a separate “Russia-Afghanistan Business Forum” will take place on the forum's sidelines, where Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexey Overchuk will lead the Russian delegation.
Baradar, often described as a “moderate” within the Taliban leadership, has become Kabul’s primary envoy for high-level international meetings since the group’s return to power in August 2021. Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada remains reclusive and does not appear in public, while Prime Minister Hasan Akhund’s ongoing health issues have limited his ability to travel.