KABUL: Afghanistan’s Taliban government has expressed interest in joining the BRICS economic forum, a spokesperson confirmed on Tuesday, days ahead of the group’s summit in Russia. The summit, which will involve Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, is scheduled for October 22-24, 2023, in Kazan city in southwestern Russia.

Hamdullah Fitrat, deputy spokesman for the Taliban government, said his group is interested in enhancing economic cooperation with great nations of the BRICS forum. “Countries with great riches and most of the world’s largest economies are part of the BRICS forum, particularly Russia, India, and China,” Fitrat said. “We already have good economic relations and trade with these countries and look forward to widening our relations and participating in the forums linked to the BRICS economy.”

Although any other nation has not acknowledged their government, the Taliban have formed relations with the BRICS’ founder members: China and Russia. Moscow and Beijing both stated interest in business projects in Afghanistan and have collaborated with Taliban officials in trying to control the influence of the regional branch of the Islamic State group known as Islamic State Khorasan.

The Chinese government has confirmed its interest in BRICS. China’s foreign minister said that Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend the BRICS summit. BRICS is an association that has recently expanded to include Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Ethiopia, among others. To date, there has been no public statement from BRICS regarding the Taliban’s offer to join the group.

Afghanistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman said there has been “no information so far” regarding a formal invitation to the Taliban to attend the summit.

BRICS, which has become more powerful than before as it fosters cooperation among emerging economies, is increasingly becoming a power globally. The Taliban’s interest in joining the forum created by BRICS shows that despite their lack of formal recognition on the international level, they are more interested in improving Afghanistan’s economic standing and engaging their global partners.

Both China and Russia have recently intensified their economic relationships with the Taliban regime, discussing investment in infrastructure, trade, and even cooperation with this regime against terrorism. However, it is still unknown whether or not the Taliban-led regime of Afghanistan will be provided with formal recognition or inclusion within the BRICS group at the meeting.

The move by the Taliban to get into BRICS comes at this time when the group is developing its outreach, and the leadership of Afghanistan sees this as a chance to cement the country’s place in the global economy. Here, the Taliban wishes to attract large-scale investors from emergent countries such as China, Russia, and India to invest in Afghanistan’s infrastructure, which was severely destroyed during years of violence, as well as to support the Afghan economy, recently facing acute shortages. However, since the international community has not recognised the Taliban, the potential membership of Afghanistan in BRICS is still an open question, as the interests of member states in economic integration outweigh the political consequences of cooperation with the Taliban regime.