Russia and Afghanistan’s Taliban government have signed a military-technical cooperation agreement on the sidelines of a security forum held in Moscow, Russian media reported.

According to reports published Wednesday by Russian outlets including Interfax, the agreement was signed on the sidelines of the International Security Forum after Taliban defense minister Mohammad Yaqoob and Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu discussed expanding bilateral cooperation. The contents of the deal have not been disclosed.

The latest agreement is part of a series of steps showing improving relations between the two sides since the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan in 2021 after overthrowing the U.S.-backed government.

Russia was the first and only country to formally recognize Taliban rule in Afghanistan. In April 2025, the country removed Taliban from its list of banned terrorist organizations and later accepted the Taliban’s nomination of an ambassador to Moscow. 

The Taliban government has steadily expanded its contacts with Moscow since 2021. In 2024, Russian President Vladimir Putin referred to the Taliban as “allies in the fight against terrorism,” according to previous statements reported by Russian media.

The Taliban takeover in 2021 followed the withdrawal of U.S. and NATO forces from Afghanistan and the collapse of the Western-backed Afghan government. Since then, the group has imposed a strict interpretation of Islamic law across Afghanistan.

Relations between the U.S. and the Taliban have remained strained. In March, the Trump administration designated Afghanistan as a “State Sponsor of Wrongful Detention,” accusing the Taliban of holding American citizens as bargaining chips. Afghanistan became only the second country to receive the designation, after Iran.

Days after the designation, the Taliban freed an American citizen, Dennis Walter Coyle, after more than a year in captivity. Coyle, who was working as a language researcher in Afghanistan, was arrested in January 2025.

In September 2025, President Donald Trump warned Afghanistan’s Taliban government that “bad things” would happen if it does not return Bagram Air Base to U.S. control. Trump issued the warning days after saying his administration was working to regain control of the base, citing its proximity to China.

Bagram, about 50 kilometers (31 miles) north of Kabul, was the largest U.S. military installation in Afghanistan. Originally built by the Soviet Union in the 1950s, it became the center of U.S. operations after the 2001 invasion, supporting air operations, logistics, and the detention of thousands of prisoners.