Russia’s foreign spy service chief, Sergei Naryshkin, has claimed that Western intelligence agencies are looking for ways to help anti-government forces in Afghanistan in hopes of keeping the country in a state of disarray.

Naryshkin visited Baku on April 17-18 to participate in the conference “Afghanistan: Regional Interconnectivity, Security and Development.”

According to him, the West is trying to maintain instability in Afghanistan in order to advance its own geopolitical interests. “It is the Westerners who continue to block Afghan assets and maintain sanctions against Kabul, while Western intelligence agencies are looking for ways to support anti-government forces in this country,” the statement said, TASS news agency reported.

He emphasized that Afghanistan “occupies an important place in geopolitics, and it is in the common interest of our states to promote reconstruction and prosperity on the Afghan land.”

The Russian foreign spy chief “noted the positive dynamics of Russian-Afghan relations and reported that Russia has started the process of removing the Taliban movement (IEA) from the list of terrorist organizations.” Naryshkin “positively assessed the activities of the current Afghan authorities in the sphere of state-building and expressed confidence in the inevitability of the prospect of their international recognition.”

“The primary obstacle to this scenario, in his opinion, is the West’s desire to maintain instability in Afghanistan to further its own geopolitical interests,” he said.

Pakistan’s deputy prime minister and foreign minister, Ishaq Dar, arrived in Kabul on Saturday for talks with officials of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA).

He was welcomed at the airport by Deputy Foreign Minister for Financial and Administrative Affairs Mohammad Naeem and other officials.

During the day-long visit, Dar will call on Prime Minister Mullah Muhammad Hassan Akhund, meet Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, and hold delegation-level talks with Acting Foreign Minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, Pakistan’s foreign ministry said in a statement on Friday.

“The talks will cover entire gamut of Pak-Afghan relationship, focusing on ways and means to deepen cooperation in all areas of mutual interests, including security, trade, connectivity, and people-to-people ties,” the statement said.

“Dar’s visit is a reflection of Pakistan’s commitment to enhance sustained engagement with the brotherly country of Afghanistan,” the statement added.

Pakistan has expelled over 80,000 Afghan nationals since the end of March, a senior official said on Friday, as part of a repatriation drive ahead of the April 30 deadline.

Afghan nationals who have no legal documents to stay or those holding Afghan Citizen Cards had been warned by Islamabad to return home or face deportation by March 31, a deadline which was then extended to April 30.

The April 30 deadline is final, Talal Chaudhry, an interior ministry adviser told a press conference in Islamabad, underlining that only those Afghans who hold valid visas to be in Pakistan would be allowed to stay, Reuters reported.

The repatriation drive is part of a campaign called the Illegal Foreigners Repatriation Plan launched in late 2023.

Pakistan has in the past blamed militant attacks and crimes on Afghan citizens, who form the largest migrant group in the country. Afghanistan has rejected the accusations, and has termed the repatriation as forced deportation.

Chaudhry was speaking just a day before Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar is scheduled to lead a high-powered delegation for talks in Kabul.

“The talks will cover the entire gamut of the Pakistan-Afghan relationship, focusing on ways and means to deepen cooperation in all areas of mutual interests, including security, trade, connectivity, and people-to-people ties,” a foreign office statement said.

Pakistani authorities say they have set up temporary centres in various cities to house the Afghan nationals before transporting them to the Torkham border crossing in northwest Pakistan.