Taliban plan to build logistics center for oil exports from Russia

Afghanistan's Trade Minister Nooruddin Azizi said this after meeting with his Turkmen and Kazakh counterparts, Reuters reports.

Azizi said that within two months, technical teams will develop a written agreement on official plans to build a logistics center.

"Based on our discussions, a logistics center is going to be established in Herat province, which can connect the north to South Asia," the trade minister said.

Afghanistan expects millions of tons of oil to be exported from Russia to South Asia through the center, he said, adding that "reaching Pakistan through Afghanistan will be the best option."

Azizi added that Kazakhstan is also seeking to use the new logistics center for its own exports.

At the same time, the Afghan Minister of Commerce said that he expects the logistics center to have a capacity of one million tons of oil, but he did not name the timing of its launch.

• On April 18, Bloomberg reported that following drone attacks on Russian refineries, the country's diesel exports continued to fall, in particular, they decreased by about a quarter.