From Al Jazeera: "Pakistan, Russia to 'coordinate' positions on Afghanistan;

[abqtommy]

Pakistani PM Imran Khan and Russia’s Vladimir Putin hold talks ‘focused on the need for peace and stability’ in Afghanistan."

When I first read this headline I thought that perhaps it was originally an article from
The Onion since I'm not aware of Russia or Pakistan ever being concerned about
'peace and stability' anywhere before. But it does appear to be a valid news article so here are a few paragraphs from it:

"The leaders of Pakistan and Russia have held telephone conversations to “coordinate” their position on the situation in Afghanistan, statements from both governments say, ahead of a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) later this week.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan spoke on Tuesday, the statements said.

snip

'While exchanging views on the situation in Afghanistan, both parties voiced their interest in coordinating both countries’ approaches for the sake of stabilising it,' read a brief Russian statement.

The Pakistani statement on the meeting also said 'close coordination and consultations between Pakistan and Russia on the evolving situation in Afghanistan were of crucial importance'."

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/9/15/pakistan-russia-to-coordinate-positions-on-afghanistan

There's more text and photos at the link above. Again, it's a surprise to me that
Pakistan and Russia have any interest in "stabilizing" anything except their own
respective positions of power, but that's just me. Whaadya think?

[Beastly Boy]

1. Don't know what to make of respective coordination overtures,

except that it shows how weak Russia is that it has to coordinate with Pakistan on regional issues, but both Putin and Khan have good reason to fear destabilization of their respective domestic positions with the rise of the Taliban. Taliban have established an extensive network in Pakistan with some serious political and military capabilities, and since they have very few skills other than waging wars, and since there is practically no war left to wage in Afghanistan, all their unskilled militants will need to find a military target somewhere to keep themselves occupied. Pakistan makes a logical and a juicy (nuclear arms and all) takeover target. Russia's vulnerability is not as much military as it is ideological. All the neighboring "stans" currently in the sphere of Russia's influence are majority Muslim and appear ready to ally with the unified Afghanistan on both religious and ethnic grounds (Afghanistan and the Russia allied "stans" to the north share many ethnic groups across their borders). Russia, already being a third rate world power, risks losing further ground to Islamic separatists, both regionally and within its own borders.

[roamer65]

2. A joint SCO operation.

Pakistan, Iran, Russia and China.

Afghanistan is surrounded by SCO members.

[abqtommy]

3. Yeah, I'm curious as to why China isn't mentioned in the article I posted.