Taliban refutes contact with Russia over struggle against IS

PanARMENIAN.Net - The Taliban denied reports that representatives had met Russian officials to discuss the common threat from Islamic State in Afghanistan as a British newspaper reported that President Vladimir Putin had met the Taliban leader, Reuters reports.

Last week, a senior Russian official was quoted as saying that Russia's interests "objectively coincided" with the Taliban in the fight against Islamic State, which has established a foothold in eastern Afghanistan.

In a statement, the Taliban said it was in contact with countries in the region but had not discussed support against Islamic State, which it calls Daesh.

"The Islamic Emirate has made and will continue to make contacts with many regional countries to bring an end to the American invasion of our country and we consider this our legitimate right," it said, using its formal name.

"But we do not see a need for receiving aid from anyone concerning so-called Daesh and neither have we contacted nor talked with anyone about this issue."