The Taliban Let The Kremlin Down On An Issue Of Importance To Russia

Moscow was unable to reach an agreement with Afghanistan on bringing in workers.

Negotiations between Moscow and Kabul on bringing Afghan migrant workers to Russia have reached an impasse, according to Russian President’s Special Representative Zamir Kabulov.

“There have been consultations, but this is a very complex issue. So far, there has been no progress, and, to be honest, I don’t see any coming,” Kabulov said to *Izvestia*. He added that this issue falls largely within the purview of immigration authorities and law enforcement agencies and, to a lesser extent, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which has been handling it recently.

The Afghan ambassador Hassan Gul Hassan also declined to specify a timeline for the arrival of Afghan workers in Russia. “We will try to make this opportunity available as soon as possible. The process is currently underway,” said Hassan, without providing further details. Kabulov reported on the negotiations regarding Afghan migrants in March. In May, Afghanistan’s Minister of Commerce Nuruddin Aziz stated that both Moscow and Kabul are interested in such cooperation. At the time, he clarified that the only obstacle to sending migrants remains the language barrier, but a joint commission is already working to overcome it.

The possibility of bringing in Afghan workers is being discussed against the backdrop of a growing labor shortage in Russia. According to estimates by the Higher School of Economics (HSE), the economy is short 2.6 million workers. By 2030, the shortage could exceed 3.1 million, according to the Ministry of Labor’s forecast. So far, no official figures have been released regarding how many migrants from Afghanistan might arrive in the country. In 2025, about 100 Afghans were working in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Tatarstan as painters, welders, and electricians.

At that time, the head of the Russian Business Center in Afghanistan Rustam Khabibullin spoke of an agreement to send another 1,000 workers to Russia. They were planned to be employed in agriculture and infrastructure reconstruction in Chechnya, Dagestan, the Krasnodar Krai, as well as in the occupied parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine.

Last year, Russia removed the Taliban, which rules Afghanistan, from its list of terrorist organizations and subsequently became the first and only country to officially recognize the Islamic Emirate. Following this, Moscow announced “significant prospects” for cooperation “with a focus on projects in the energy, transportation, agriculture, and infrastructure sectors.”

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