Русский
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk and Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi have discussed prospects for interaction in trade, energy, investment cooperation, and strengthening transport connectivity as part of plans for developing the international North-South transport corridor. They also discussed plans to intensify ties between the two countries’ entrepreneurs.
Last week, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and the UAE signed an MoU on developing the Trans-Afghan railway which would bisect Afghanistan North-South and West-East and enable the country to become a transit point for Central Asia as well as provide access to maritime trade via Pakistan’s Ports. Such a project, if realised, would take about 5 years to complete and cost an estimated US$5 billion. It would also provide access to Afghanistan’s markets for Russian exporters.
Mutual trade between Russia and Afghanistan in 7M 2026 has increased by 150% compared to the same period last year.
There is some disparity over the exact trade volumes. According to Russian customs data, bilateral trade reached about US$326 million in 2025, whereas Afghani data puts the figure higher at US$590 million in 2025. However, both sides concur that 2025 trade volumes doubled over 2024. Should the current growth rates continue for 2026, using the Russian statistics, this would imply that Russia-Afghanistan 2026 mutual trade would reach US$815 million.
Trade is largely in Russia’s favour, with the bulk of this being natural gas, petrol, and diesel fuel in addition to agricultural and food products including wheat, wheat flour, sunflower oil, and raw chickpeas.
Afghanistan exports to Russia currently total about US$4 million and include dried and fresh fruits such as raisins, dried apricots, pomegranates, grapes, apples, and cherries, along with cotton, watermelons, and various medicinal plants. Afghanistan also exports some mineral stones, talc, and mica powder.
