Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs of Afghanistan, has returned to Kabul following a four-day official visit to Tatarstan.

Upon arrival at Kabul International Airport, he described the visit as highly productive, highlighting key meetings and agreements reached during the trip.

Speaking to the media, Baradar stated that he held constructive discussions with the President of Tatarstan and the President of Mordovia on political, economic, and trade-related issues.

He also reported comprehensive talks with two Deputy Prime Ministers of Russia, focusing on expanding bilateral trade between Kabul and Moscow, encouraging Russian investment in Afghanistan, and fostering broader economic cooperation between the two countries.

During his stay in Tatarstan, Baradar inaugurated the Afghanistan–Russia Business Forum and witnessed the signing of five important memoranda of understanding.

These agreements cover sectors such as transport and transit, bilateral trade, and collaboration between the private sectors of both nations.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday he will speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday to discuss stopping the war in Ukraine, days after the first face-to-face talks in three years between Russia and Ukraine took place in Istanbul, Reuters reported.

Trump had offered to travel to Turkey for the talks while in the Gulf last week if Putin would also attend, but Putin declined to take him up on the offer.

The president has been pressuring Putin and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to agree to a ceasefire in the three-year-old war.

Trump said in a Truth Social post that his call with Putin will be on Monday at 10 a.m. Eastern (1400 GMT), read the report.

“THE SUBJECTS OF THE CALL WILL BE, STOPPING THE ‘BLOODBATH’ THAT IS KILLING, ON AVERAGE, MORE THAN 5000 RUSSIAN AND UKRAINIAN SOLDIERS A WEEK, AND TRADE,” he said.

Trump said he would speak with Zelenskiy and various members of NATO afterwards.

“Hopefully it will be a productive day, a ceasefire will take place, and this very violent war, a war that should have never happened, will end,” he wrote.

Russia has shown little inclination to make concessions in the Ukraine conflict.

Russian negotiators at the Istanbul peace talks on Friday demanded Ukraine pull its troops out of all Ukrainian regions claimed by Moscow before they would agree to a ceasefire, a senior Ukrainian official familiar with the talks told Reuters.

Saimumin Yatimov, the head of Tajikistan’s State Committee for National Security, has raised concerns about the situation in Afghanistan and called for implementing new operational methods along the Afghan borders.

Speaking at the 56th meeting of the Council of Heads of Security Agencies and Special Services of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Yatimov stated that the threat of international terrorism and the emergence of tension hotspots near the borders, particularly in Afghanistan, require new working strategies.

According to Russian media reports, Yatimov identified international terrorism as one of the main threats to the CIS countries.

However, the Islamic Emirate has not responded to these remarks. It has repeatedly dismissed such concerns as unfounded, emphasizing that it does not allow anyone to use Afghan soil for hostile purposes.

Tajik President Emomali Rahmon was also present at the meeting and urged CIS member states to strengthen their security cooperation in light of growing regional challenges.

The 56th meeting of the CIS Council of Heads of Security Agencies and Special Services was held on Friday in Dushanbe, Tajikistan’s capital.

Member states of the council include Russia, Tajikistan, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan.

Meanwhile, Turkmenistan participated in the meeting as an observer.