KABUL, 15 May 2022, (TON): The Taliban regime in Afghanistan has shown interest in buying gas and oil from Russia and also continuing work on the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline project.

At a time when the Russian energy giants like Gazprom have been hit by sanctions from the Western countries, Jamal Nasir Garwal, the Taliban-appointed charge d’affaires in Moscow, has reaffirmed Afghanistan’s ambition of developing the energy partnership with Russia.

Garwal in an interview with Russian state-owned news agency RIA Novosti said “yes, we are negotiating in the sphere of business and finance. We are determined and very much want to develop economic cooperation with Russia so that there is progress in relations. As for specific areas, we are interested in purchasing fuel and gas.”

Garwal was accredited by the Russian Foreign Ministry in April in what Moscow called “a step towards the resumption of full-fledged bilateral diplomatic contacts” between the two countries. He had also attended the Russian Victory Day parade held on Red Square in Moscow on May 9.