KYIV: Ukraine has criticised Belarus for hosting a Taliban delegation and pursuing closer economic relations with Afghanistan’s de facto authorities, describing the engagement as diplomacy with “terrorists”.
In a statement, Ukraine’s Foreign Intelligence Service said that Belarus’s growing contacts with the Taliban and North Korea showed that Minsk’s diplomacy had descended to the level of “terrorists” and military regimes.
The criticism followed a five-day visit to Belarus by a Taliban delegation led by Afghanistan’s Minister of Agriculture and Livestock for the second meeting of the joint economic cooperation commission.
Ukraine Targets Belarus Over Taliban Engagement
According to the Ukrainian intelligence agency, Belarus sought to keep the Taliban delegation’s visit out of the public spotlight.
During the trip, Taliban representatives visited several major Belarusian institutions and industrial facilities, including the National Academy of Sciences, the BelAZ vehicle manufacturing plant, the Belarusian National Biotechnology Corporation, a tractor factory and the Slutsk cheese factory.
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Ukraine’s Foreign Intelligence Service also said that some members of the delegation remain listed by Belarus’s KGB as belonging to terrorist organisations.
Belarus has not formally recognised the Taliban government, which returned to power in Afghanistan in August 2021.
However, officials from Belarus and the Taliban have held repeated discussions in recent years aimed at expanding trade and economic cooperation.
Belarus is also a close strategic ally of Russia, which became the first country to formally recognise the Taliban government in 2025.
