Kabulov: Taliban “Asked For Money” in Talks with Russians

Representatives from Russia and the Taliban “laughed” at US claims that Moscow has been arming the group, according to Russia’s envoy to Afghanistan.
Zamir Kabulov said on Thursday that in their talks with the Taliban, the group’s representatives said they buy all their weapons illegally from the Afghan government and police, and asked for financial support for that.
In that request, the Russian representatives replied, “Sorry, we have no money”, Kabulov told a press conference in Moscow.
“We laughed with Taliban representatives about it, and I’ll tell you why,” he said of the US allegations.
“They [Taliban] say they wouldn’t mind if we gave them weapons, but they don’t need weapons. They say ‘give us money, we’re buying weapons from the stocks of the Afghan army and police’,” Kabulov was quoted as saying by The Associated Press news agency.
“They laughed at the rumours that they receive ammunition from Pakistan. It was in the Soviet times – as they say – the Mujahedeen was delivered weapons, and now they buy everything they need in Afghanistan,” he added.