Can Russia help ease tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan?

Islamabad, Pakistan – Sitting with his elbows on his knees, Russia’s Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev leaned towards Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, for talks in Rawalpindi on October 14. While Kolokoltsev was in Pakistan, Sergey Naryshkin, director of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), flew into Kabul to meet the Taliban’s intelligence chief, Abdul Haq Wasiq. Officially, Russia, Pakistan and Afghanistan have issued little beyond standard statements about the meetings. But the signs are clear: Pakistan and Afghanistan have spent the past year exchanging fire and public threats. Qatar and Turkiye brokered a ceasefire in Doha last October and China hosted talks in Urumqi in April, but attacks inside Pakistan continued.