By Tamim Hamid
The Ministry of Interior (MoI) on Wednesday said it had no evidence that Russian military officers met with Taliban representatives in Uruzgan province recently.
The statement comes a day after Uruzgan police chief Ghulam Farooq Sangari claimed that eleven Russian military officers, including two generals and two female doctors, met Taliban officials in Uruzgan.
In response to the claims, the ministry of interior has said it has no knowledge of such a meeting in the province.
“We once again call on the Uruzgan police chief to provide us with further explanations and give us more information, but the ministry of interior has no information about the presence of Russian military in Afghanistan,” said MoI spokesman Najib Danish.
But Uruzgan police chief said in a telephonic interview with TOLOnews earlier this week there were intelligence reports which indicated that the Russian military delegation had met with the Taliban near Trinkot city, the center of Uruzgan province.
“They (Russian officers) met the Taliban to train them in tactical maneuvers, and planting of mines, this is the information which has been traced by our intelligence organs in Uruzgan,” said Sangari.
Rumors over the engagement of Taliban and Russian officials have been ongoing for the past few months, and there has been much speculation about alleged contact between the Russians and the Taliban.
Russian officials have on various occasions confirmed contact with the resurgent group which has been fighting the government in Kabul for the past fifteen years.
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