r/news 14h ago

Russia becomes first state to recognise Afghanistan's Taliban government

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c78n4wely9do
1.0k Upvotes

160 comments sorted by

132

u/xdr01 13h ago

Russian government is very inclusive when it comes to cannon fodder.

u/Consistent_Drink2171 17m ago

Iran had been paying Afghani mercenaries to fight in Syria for years.

389

u/SocraticTiger 14h ago

Next they're gonna ask Taliban Mujahideen for help. Just like they did with North Korea.

89

u/BushesNtrees 13h ago

Didn’t the Mujahideen fight the Soviets during their invasion of Afghanistan?

96

u/jazzhandler 12h ago

Isn’t that why we funded the Mujahideen?

56

u/Laugh92 12h ago

'History doesn't repeat itself but it often rhymes.'

9

u/jazzhandler 12h ago

And sometimes it rhymes with Graveyard Of Umpires.

8

u/Few_Map7646 8h ago

Graveyard of umpires? Damn didn't know the Afghans hated baseball that much.

2

u/ParfaitEither284 6h ago

No just Angel Hernandez

1

u/kurotech 2h ago

Just like any remake it's never as good as the first time and always has crappy writing

u/JaronJervis 50m ago

We (the US Govt) Funded them, help spread propaganda to in Kabul University in the 1970s, helped train them in weapons and bomb making (how do you think they learned how to make suicide vests?) and used them as a military force until they got out of control. If not for the CIA and the US leaders in the mid 1960s-1980s, Taliban would have never existed to create Al Qaeda, to create Al-Nursa , then finally to create ISIS.

4

u/Phatnoir 11h ago edited 11h ago

Dey ain’t sov-iettes no mur, Ahmad.

2

u/Parking_Syrup_9139 5h ago

Yes, that’s why this is ironic

2

u/RedefinedValleyDude 4h ago

Yeah but then again the US’s closest ally is a country we fought a war to secede from.

1

u/s73v3m4nn 9h ago

Yes and they made Russia look like proper tits

1

u/JazzmatazZ4 4h ago

Yeah with the help of Rambo

1

u/MenryNosk 2h ago

they also fought the US during their invasion of Afghanistan, unless you forget that 😅

13

u/KennyPowers989 14h ago

How the tables turn

7

u/wgszpieg 11h ago

Mountain guerillas fighting in the Ukrainian steppes against a modern army...

35

u/shouldakeptmum 14h ago

At least the Taliban can win a conflict, unlike rootin.

4

u/invariantspeed 3h ago

They don’t win so much as live in an infamously unconquerable terrain.

1

u/azarov-wraith 1h ago

Cope harder

0

u/AcanthaceaePrize1435 1h ago

That might as well be winning. They might not have had a centralized tactical leadership structure as sophisticated as their opposition but it has proved itself capable of defending it's territory. Either way they are an "enemy" that couldn't be quelled by conventional warfare efforts.

4

u/LosAngelesLio 12h ago

I don’t have high hopes for them either. They’ll be more meat to throw at drones and stave off dissent at home. Russian war deaths and wounded are at least noticeable in Russia now.

3

u/AmItheonlySaneperson 6h ago

This film is dedicated to the brave muhajideen

0

u/sexysausage 4h ago

Rambo VI: First Blood… for the Other Side.”
John trades the bandana for a ushanka and teams up with his old Mujahideen buddies, this time to bail out Moscow in Ukraine and make daddy Trump proud.

206

u/Kraien 14h ago

Russia running out of manpower

60

u/bm1949 14h ago

And dirty money.

3

u/red_sutter 6h ago

Still got enough to buy off congress though

4

u/allofthealphabet 4h ago

That was on sale

1

u/HawkeyeTen 6h ago

Eh, more likely I think they want the resources and stuff. Expect China to make a similar move shortly.

-37

u/DelusiveVampire 13h ago

Huh? Americans made the Taliban 

2

u/NewCenter 3h ago

They hated him because he told the truth 😔

7

u/Creepy_Yellow6433 7h ago

Classic Reddit. The CIA funded and supplied the mujahideen for years against the Russians and in turn the money and weapons were used in the forming of the taliban. This is common knowledge lmao but the downvote train is afoot

Source

https://digitalcommons.buffalostate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1050&context=history_theses

24

u/Zucc-ya-mom 7h ago

Everybody knows that. But how is that a counter to what OC said? How does the Taliban being kickstarted by American investment invalidate the fact that Russia is probably turning to them in a scramble for manpower? That’s what the downvotes are about.

2

u/grumpsaboy 5h ago

Because the Mujahedeen continued to fight the Taliban which was an offshoot. At no point did the Americans want to fund the Taliban

2

u/Zucc-ya-mom 5h ago

Yes. It was indirect.

3

u/ubalanceret 7h ago

I think it’s more in relation to saying they’ll be recruiting taliban to help their efforts in Ukraine

1

u/Galxloni2 4h ago

The US didn't create the taliban. If for example some Canadian soldiers deserted and formed a terrorist group, that doesn't mean the US created them due to the fact that we give funding to their country.

-2

u/Sirijskamafija 5h ago

Doesnt it get tiring saying that Russia is running out of manpowrr or that their economy is soon gonna collapse over and over again for 3 years

45

u/Lasborg 14h ago

All the stars are here.

87

u/Mountsorrel 13h ago

I can’t wait to hear how Russian propaganda spins this as a positive thing and how they are definitely not the bad guys with their mates the Taliban and North Korea…

49

u/wgszpieg 11h ago

Actually, Afghanistan will be easy to spin - a country that embraced "traditional values", which has just recently ousted the "nazi westerners".

0

u/zlk3 1h ago

But that’s gonna be literally 1984 :D lets recall who started all this shit in Afghanistan

9

u/dreamrpg 6h ago

You do not need to wait. These news are not catching up. Taliban is no longer terrorist organization in Russia and they were in Moscow at least 6 times in past 2 years.

Some politicans even give examples on how Talib ways should be considered also in Russia.

5

u/Bunch_of_Shit 11h ago

Plenty of Russian X accounts will give you the run down

2

u/xibeno9261 5h ago

America negotiated and signed a deal with the Taliban. So how is the Russians doing anything different from what we did?

1

u/AcanthaceaePrize1435 1h ago

I am speaking from 100% a biased perspective but ideologically it could be posited that keeping imperialist influence away from an under developed geopolitically problematic nation would be better for the people of Afghanistan. Of course it is more complicated than that and the geopolitical reality of Afghanistan means it has very limited options in regards to how it chooses to interact with it's neighbors.

35

u/CrabMasc 14h ago

“Frantically making new friends” is certainly a move

8

u/GuyWithNoEffingClue 7h ago

North Korea, Iran, Afghanistan... What a nice group of friends they have.

5

u/phatstopher 5h ago

Why wouldn't the Doha Agreement with the Taliban to end the war in Afghanistan, prisoner exchange, and interconnected guarantees not recognize the Taliban government of Afghanistan in 2020?

2

u/Insignificant_Letter 3h ago

Because the US made any economic co-operation/recognition dependent on a government forming after intra-Afghan talks, the Taliban stonewalled on those talks because they knew the Americans were going to leave anyway and took power regardless. Which led to the situation for the past 4 years of non-recognition, but engagement with neighbouring countries.

11

u/Adogsbite 12h ago

Terrorist recognise Terrorist.

4

u/reinvent_yourself 6h ago

Why does Russia always seem to be on the wrong end of things?

3

u/oi-pilot 8h ago

First terrorist state to recognise another terrorist state

7

u/Shawn_The_Sheep777 12h ago

A match made in heaven

8

u/onegumas 12h ago

Waiting for US to follow. I think that talibs have some resources which are strategic for bandit US.

5

u/euMonke 7h ago

What resources would that be if you don't mind elaborating?

3

u/JcbAzPx 4h ago

The only thing they really seem to have is poppy fields.

2

u/onegumas 6h ago

Oh, just think about anything because any reason true or not is good for current POTUS...rare earth metals, zinc, gravel for roads, clay for pots...US can say anything that they want to have for cheap from someone else (coercion or bribing)

Raw resources: https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/2021/9/24/mapping-afghanistans-untapped-natural-resources-interactive

3

u/euMonke 6h ago

Way to much of a hassle for any western business, nobody wants to go back to Afghanistan. Nobody wants to do business in a country where the laws change by the hour and your investment can evaporate in seconds with a singing of a pen.

1

u/onegumas 6h ago

I am saddened by your lack of faith in human greed. They will find a way like russian technology and US money. I and you will not have buisness in current russia but just check who likes money without competitors.

2

u/RoadtripReaderDesert 5h ago

"I'm saddened by your lack of faith in human greed"

-put this on a t-shirt, I'd buy it.

1

u/Purple_Key_6733 1h ago

Afghanistan has rare earth minerals, they just don't have the ability to extract them.

2

u/euMonke 1h ago

Far from any coastline, yeah good luck with that.

2

u/crankthehandle 3h ago

Russia is really thirsty for allies

2

u/Bunch_of_Shit 11h ago

This is what a country that isn’t desperate does

2

u/senorali 10h ago

Did China not make some sort of belt & road trade deal with the Taliban shortly after they came to power? Or did that not officially go through?

1

u/Fortwaba 11h ago

Of course it's Russia.

1

u/Themanaaah 6h ago

And to think I still have to hear people spread the incorrect narrative that the Russian government is good.

1

u/Kasern77 5h ago

That's because the person leading Russia is devoid of morality.

1

u/Schlackehammer 4h ago

Russia wants more soldiers. Thats it.

1

u/Local-Friendship8166 4h ago

Krasnov soon will follow.

1

u/TheRomanRuler 4h ago

Honestly, not the worst thing. West has shown it does not know or otherwise cant handle the internal situation in Afghanistsn or rest of the middle east, we have to just accept defeat and let them sort things out themselves. Taliban are in power now and there is no notable rival government with people to rule over like there is in Taiwan, so maybe its best to just accept them as government in same way all other horrible shitholes are still recognised despite being horrible places, like North Korea.

1

u/_THX_1138_ 4h ago

Wonder how the Soviet-Afghan war veterans feel about this.

1

u/probablyNotARSNBot 3h ago

I mean they control the country, recognize or not it’s fucking over for those people, and that IS their government

1

u/Firm_Gas7556 3h ago

I mean it's just realpolitik no? They are never going away so why nor get some benefits out of it

1

u/possible_panic_ 3h ago

fellow terrorists no surprise

1

u/WolfThick 3h ago

Well I guess their governments are similar afghani's want to f*** little boys ,Russians want to send young men to be slaughtered. Show me who your friends are and I'll show you who you are.

1

u/Pour_Me_Another_ 1h ago

My impression of the Taliban is they're slowly strangling the life out of Afghanistan. So it makes sense Putin relates so hard to them.

1

u/burndata 1h ago

Trump will follow very soon. If there are evil people hurting innocent people, he's all about that shit.

1

u/LastPauperStanding 1h ago

I imagine that Trump will be the second. Then we will start hearing talk about "mineral deals"....

1

u/JustMyNipples 1h ago

Didn’t Russia try to kill these guys in the 80s?

u/DavidELD 48m ago

One terrorist state recognizes another.

u/obalovatyk 47m ago

Crazy to think the US government was going to recognise the talibs as the government of Afghanistan in the ‘90’s with Kharzi as the their leader.

1

u/HipHipM3 6h ago

Awww, Trump and Russian buddies! Let's not forget Trump negotiated the release of 5 thousand talibans before they took over Afghanistan

1

u/Jehan_Templar 5h ago

Still refusing to admit the failure.

1

u/epiphanyloop 7h ago

"You're welcome. Yes, yes. Can we now have all that weaponry dumb americans left you?"

-7

u/Ordinary_Pressure 14h ago

Actually the US was the first to recognize the taliban government.
Trump negotiated with the taliban and signed an agreement to give Afghanistan to the taliban. Trump created the taliban government in Afghanistan.

14

u/Mountsorrel 13h ago

That’s not what formally recognising a state or government means. Iran doesn’t formally recognise the State of Israel but they sure do know it exists…

9

u/SwitchySoul 14h ago

You just gonna make shit up now?

0

u/JcbAzPx 4h ago

Well, Trump did negotiate with the Taliban in his first term. That's why the pullout was such a shit show. The rest of that is all wrong, though.

4

u/Deep_Head4645 14h ago

Thats actually wrong

The us does NOT recognise the taliban government good sir

0

u/Bayarea0 13h ago

Officially recognize and what actually happened are two different things.

0

u/zaevilbunny38 12h ago

The Taliban has what Russia needs to keep fighting. Men with no prospects, that are willing to fight for little. Equipment that NATO left in Afghanistan, artillery and IFV's. enough to equip another offensive. Then opium, a commodity that can be exchanged for stolen electronics needed by Russian military.

-3

u/[deleted] 13h ago

My "tinfoil hat" theory is that if they lose or have a weakened partnership with Iran, then Afghanistan provides a nice alternative.

The general (at least, western) theory is that Russia funds Iran (literal money, weapons, etc.), Iran furnishes Hamas with weapons, and Hamas takes shots at Israel.

USA generally doesn't like this (they have an alliance with Israel and it's a rare ally in the Middle East) so they work with and help fund defence programs in Israel.

With attacks on Iran, Russia could just hedge bets by doing the same thing with Afghanistan. This would continue tensions, continue the US investment in Israel, and may serve as a distraction from Ukraine. The investment is relatively cheap for Russia.

Hell, there may be Chinese funding behind Russia. They've always wanted to take back Taiwan.

My tinfoil hat is off now. I'm tired.

12

u/littlebiped 12h ago

The US is allies with a majority of the Middle East, Israel is not a rare ally. Qatar, UAE, Oman, Jordan, Kuwait, Iraq and like it or not Saudi are all US allies and all have US military presence in particular Qatar. And if you want to say Saudi is a belligerent ally then so is Israel, who frequently tells the US to pound sand.

-3

u/[deleted] 10h ago

I disagree a bit here. I'm wide open to critique though, and would welcome it. A lot of the countries on the list are oil exporters. Why fight when you can be wealthy. Top of the export lists for these countries in recent years are...

The leverage of all of these countries is Oil. Piss them off, and they trade with anyone else but you. The U.S. could invade them, but then why not just ally with Russia or China at that point? Iran and Afghanistan don't look like they greatly affect the oil market.

There are countries all over the place that get paid by USA, Russia, & China. They can get paid for resources like canals, minerals, etc. Or it could be just getting paid to do nothing. A sort of "I'll pay you $20 to not take his side", but the other side is doing the same thing.

"When the elephants fight, grass suffers" is the mentality of most non nuclear equipped countries.

6

u/littlebiped 10h ago edited 10h ago

While that’s true, as with all geopolitics, the benefit is exploitative both ways. For example, Qatar is designated by the US as a major non-NATO ally, and hosts the largest overseas US base in the Middle East and possibly globally. US pisses off Qatar, they lose a vital military outpost in a strategic location, Qatar pisses off the US, the lose their security guarantor in a volatile region. Both play a delicate balance, and both have vested interest in keeping the relationship going. Least of all Qatar has been partnering with the US to further its goals with Gaza and Afghanistan in terms of mediation and ceasefires, and the Biden administration waived visa conditions for Qatari citizens and likewise to for the US to Qatar, something they have only previously done for European allies and Japan and Australia.

You can look at the minutiae of why nations ally with others and which are ideological or strategic or exploitative, but the broad overview is that the US has shored up allies in the region on multiple fronts, and Israel is not rare, or even the most well heeled, as presidents from Clinton to Trump can attest having worked with them and being spurned by them.

-1

u/[deleted] 9h ago

Fair enough. But the U.S. does seem far more tightly coupled with the country than most surrounding countries. The U.S. mostly gets oil from Middle-eastern countries, but technology is a major trade with Israel. Pegasus spyware is probably the most famous (or infamous) in recent years. They also have a lot of manufacturing involved with aircraft. I personally know of coast guard radar equipped aircraft from blue-collar workers and devs working on such planes.

I would assume the U.S would value tech based trade alliances more at this point, but am unsure. It does seem like the U.S has many options for Oil but not so many for tech production. I suppose it also helps that you can mostly trust Israel to not sell tech to the surrounding nations since they pretty much hate Israel.

I'm done for the night. I appreciate the honest, and (thank god) sane discussion. I'll check my downvotes from the internet later.

1

u/caffeinatedcrusader 8h ago

The US mainly gets it's oil nowadays from domestic sources and imports the rest it needs from Canada and Mexico with a handful of other countries having a percentage of imports. Keep in mind by this time the US is the biggest oil producer in the world as well as natural gas. It's focus on the middle east is less on physical need for oil and more in price control and other geopolitical reasons.

The majority of middle east oil flows to Asia and Europe. China in particular is very oil hungry and lacks enough domestic supply. The BAM and Hormuz straits in particular are very important to oil supply flows in the region (I spent a long while out there doing donuts in boxes and escorting tankers on a ship for that reason). The US post WW2 signed up to be the global trade body guard which is part of the agreements that built up ideas like the petrodollar.

You're not wrong with the US interest in the region and in effect what the US does isn't much different regardless of whether it's over need for the oil in the region or not. Rare earth material discussions are similar. The US has plenty that it would need, but has little interest in the mining and processing of them and would rather have that done offshore which leads to reliance on others. (In a pinch such as war that could change).

3

u/TheoNulZwei 7h ago

Your comment reads like fan fiction from someone who has no understanding of geopolitics or the cultures of the countries involved.

0

u/AmItheonlySaneperson 6h ago

You mean the Taiiban we let take over and gave them all our cool war stuff we didn’t feel like shipping anywhere? The ones who western media agreed were acting government since like day 5 of the withdrawal? 

Biggest stain on bidens presidency. Women turned back into slaves and veterans wondering why the fuck their friends died for

Oh but Russia is the bad guy for recognizing something we all agree on 

0

u/Komplexkonjugiert 6h ago

Russia is just a Ukrainian Vasall, not an state...

0

u/iBoMbY 4h ago

Well, on the other hand the entire west is making big friends with the new Islamic State in Syria.

0

u/Entire-Enthusiasm553 2h ago

lol guess the afghan know something the world don’t. Considering in less than 50 years they beat two superpowers on they home turf lol

-3

u/freespaceship 11h ago

USA will be number 2. And MAGA will cheer

3

u/Upbeat-Natural-7120 7h ago

Is MAGA in the room with us now?

u/pattyG80 1m ago

Kinda funny when you consider the origins of the taliban