Russia’s interests coincide with Taliban’s in fight against IS

Russia is exchanging information with the Taliban and sees shared interest with the insurgents when it comes to counteracting the spread of the Islamic State group, a senior Russian diplomat said on Wednesday.

Russia is exchanging information with the Taliban and sees shared interest with the insurgents when it comes to counteracting the spread of the Islamic State group, a senior Russian diplomat said on Wednesday.

Russian President, Vladimir Putin, gives his annual state of the nation address in the Kremlin in Moscow. (AP)

“Taliban interests objectively coincide with ours,” Zamir Kabulov, head of the department at the Russian foreign ministry responsible for Afghanistan who is also a Kremlin special representative in the country, told Interfax news agency.

“I have said before that we have communication channels with the Taliban to exchange information,” he said.

“Both the Taliban of Afghanistan and the Taliban of Pakistan have said that they don’t recognise (IS leader Abu Bakr) al-Baghdadi as a caliph, that they don’t recognise ISIL,” he said, using an acronym for the IS.

“That is very important,” added Kabulov, an Afghanistan expert who held negotiations with Taliban leader Mullah Omar in the mid-1990s, when the group seized a Russian transport plane and held seven Russians hostage for a year in the Kandahar airport.

Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova confirmed Kabulov’s remarks were reported correctly. “It has to do with fighting the Islamic State group,” she said.