THIS is an undeniable fact that the current ruling regime in Afghanistan lacks credibility amid non-recognition from regional and global players. The presence of hardcore terrorist groups on Afghan soil, with the support of the Taliban regime, is a permanent irritant for immediate neighbors, especially Pakistan. The Afghan Taliban Defence Minister Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob signed military cooperation agreements in Moscow, signaling expanded ties despite recent international as well as Russian warnings of terror threats emerging from Afghanistan. This deepening engagement highlights a contradiction, as Moscow strengthens security links with a regime governing territory hosting numerous terrorist organizations.
As per these reports, the Taliban regime is hosting more than twenty terrorist organizations and 18,000–23,000 terrorists, including ISIS-K, TTP, Al-Qaeda, ETIM, IMU and affiliated extremist networks. Top Russian security officials, including FSB chief Alexander Bortnikov and Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu, recently warned that ISIS-K is actively recruiting across Central Asia and Russian migrant communities while expanding its financing and attack networks. They also highlighted the influx of foreign fighters into Afghanistan, where thousands of terrorists operate. Consequently, Russia’s new military cooperation with the Taliban directly contradicts its own intelligence and threat assessments.
Under Taliban rule, Afghanistan serves as a secure operational sanctuary, recruitment hub and ideological incubator for an expanding network of terrorist organizations. Multiple global bodies—including the UN Monitoring Team, SIGAR, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO)—consistently document how these extremist groups enjoy freedom of movement and operational continuity under the regime. This environment hosts a dense concentration of transnational threats, including thousands of fighters from the TTP and ISIS-K alongside an active Al-Qaeda presence, making the prospect of militarily strengthening the Taliban highly dangerous for regional security.
Having inherited vast stockpiles of abandoned Western weaponry, the Taliban are now expanding their procurement channels and foreign military partnerships. As per international warnings, abandoned arms routinely leak to terrorist franchises operating within Afghanistan. Enhancing the regime’s military capabilities under these conditions risks severely amplifying an already volatile terror ecosystem. While weekly US cash flows of roughly $40 million continue entering Afghanistan, the Taliban pursue military cooperation and potential procurement channels. Combined with governance of territory saturated by terrorist organizations, narcotics economies, extremist recruitment and outward security spillover, this raises serious concerns regarding indirect enablement of militarization and rearmament. Regional consequences are already measurable.
More than 600 terrorist attacks were launched against Pakistan from Afghan soil during 2025, while repeated cross-border infiltration continues. Russian officials warn of ISIS-K recruitment reaching deep into Central Asia and Russia. Terrorism linked to Afghanistan has affected Chinese interests, Tajik border security and wider Central Asian stability, while concerns continue growing over extremist penetration from northern Afghanistan into neighboring states.
Moscow’s decision to draw the Taliban deeper into its strategic orbit—built on ties maintained since the insurgency years—is a dangerous and profoundly flawed move. While Russia publicly uses terrorism narratives to exploit the regime’s isolation, this shortsighted gamble will ultimately backfire by providing military depth, political cover and regional leverage to a pro-terror authority. By giving advanced weapons and legitimacy to a regime that actively hosts, shelters and normalizes a saturated network of global terrorists, Russia is directly strengthening a hostile ecosystem that severely threatens the security of Pakistan, China, Central Asia and Moscow itself.
—The writer is contributing columnist.
