Taliban are seeking to finalize a transit agreement with Russia for the transportation of 50 million cubic meters of liquefied natural gas (LNG) through Afghanistan, according to Rustam Khabibullin, head of the Russian Business Center in Afghanistan.
Khabibullin told Sputnik on Friday that the agreement is expected to be finalized in 2025 under the “Kazan Format.” Once implemented, the gas shipments will be transported to their destinations via tanker trucks.
A pilot phase of the project has already been completed, according to the report.
This prospective deal follows earlier agreements for the annual transit of 50 million tons of Russian oil in 2023 and two million tons of Russian wheat and flour in 2024.
In late 2022, Zamir Kabulov, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s special envoy for Afghanistan, told TASS news agency that Moscow had reached agreements with the Taliban’s interim government for the transport of energy resources and wheat through Afghanistan. “These agreements have been made. Consultations are now ongoing about the volume of these transfers,” Kabulov said at the time.
Taliban see these deals as vital to boosting Afghanistan’s regional trade role, though logistical and geopolitical challenges remain significant obstacles to implementation.
