While its campaign to crush the extremist group Islamic State (ISIS) is ongoing, Russia is looking at fighting another enemy: the Islamic fundamentalist political movement, Taliban.
Russia's ambassador to Afghanistan, Alexander Mantytskiy, recently said President Vladimir Putin's government is considering to help out in efforts to fight the terror group by providing military assistance to the Afghan government.
"We will provide some assistance, but it doesn't mean that any soldier from the Russian Federation will be here on Afghan soil," Mantytskiy was quoted as saying in a report on The Daily Mail.
The Russian envoy added that his nation can very well take on security challenges not addressed by the United States.
"Why should we carry the burden of a problem that was not solved by the Americans and NATO countries?" he said.
Mantytskiy's remarks were in response to an appeal made by Afghan President Ashraf Ghani to Moscow for reinforcement in its campaign against the Taliban.
Ghani particularly called on Russia to provide its struggling troops with military hardware, such as artillery, small arms and Mi-35 helicopter gunships.
Afghanistan's first vice president, Abdul Rashid Dostum, is reportedly directly reaching out to the Russian government for military assistance.
In fact, Dostum recently met with Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and other defence officials in Moscow this month to tackle this matter.
The Afghan vice president's spokesman, Sultan Faizy, said Russia responded positively to Afghanistan's request.
"General Dostum wanted Russia to pay attention to the situation in Afghanistan. Northern Afghanistan and countries allied to Russia are under threat — that is why Russia is willing to help," Faizy said.
Russia's potential military assistance to Afghanistan may further sour the country's ties and fuel confrontation with the US, which has reduced its troop level in the strife-torn Asian country.
