Taliban in Talks with Belarusian Officials on Assembling Agricultural Equipment

A Taliban delegation held talks with Belarusian officials in Minsk on expanding cooperation in agricultural machinery and establishing an assembly program in Afghanistan.

Sergei Lukashvich, first deputy foreign minister of Belarus, met with a Taliban delegation led by Ahmad Jan Bilal, CEO of the National Development Company of Afghanistan. The discussions, reported Monday by the Russia Trade Center in Afghanistan, focused on supplying agricultural machinery, particularly tractors, and creating a post-sales service center for maintenance and repairs.

The two sides also examined setting up assembly operations for tractors, trailers and other machinery at an industrial complex in Kabul, where KAMAZ trucks and Russian buses have previously been assembled. Tractors from Minsk Tractor Works are slated for assembly-based production in Afghanistan under the program.

Details on the project timeline, production capacity and legal mechanisms have not been announced.