CNN Report Suggests Russia is Arming Taliban

A new report suggests that Russia is arming Taliban fighters in Afghanistan.

CNN posted videos that purportedly show members of the Taliban displaying Russia-supplied weapons and talking about where they got them.

The weapons include sniper rifles, Kalashnikov variants, and heavy machine guns. Identifying markings have been stripped off the weapons, but the report claims they may have originated in Russia.

Taliban groups in the north and west of Afghanistan claim to have the weapons in their possession.

"The Russians have said that they maintain contact with the Taliban, we have lots of other reports from other people they are arming the Taliban . . . there is no smoke without fire," Afghan government spokesman Sediq Sediqi told CNN.

"That's why our intelligence agencies are up to the job to find out what level of support that is to the Taliban."

In April, a U.S. general would not refute a claim that Russia was sending weapons into Afghanistan.

Russia has diplomatic ties with Taliban officials, but only to encourage peace talks between the group and the Afghan government. It has denied supplying weapons to the Taliban.

The Taliban controls or supports several areas within Afghanistan, according to a New York Times report from last month.

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