Russia took Afghanistan without firing a shot

By Farhad Ibragimov – lecturer at the Faculty of Economics at RUDN University, visiting lecturer at the Institute of Social Sciences of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration

By Farhad Ibragimov – lecturer at the Faculty of Economics at RUDN University, visiting lecturer at the Institute of Social Sciences of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration

When Russia recognized the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan last week, it didn’t just open a new embassy – it opened a new geopolitical front. For the first time since the Taliban’s return to power in 2021, a major world player has gone beyond informal contacts and embraced Kabul’s de facto rulers as legitimate partners.