A massive waste of time cultivating time with that Islamist hellhole and curator of the Taliban. Because with such a friend who needs enemies. As the US found out.
Selling them stuff and buying things they have that you want is nothing to do with friendship... the Taleban was not created to invade Russia, it was created to create order and peace in Afghanistan... when the Taleban were in charge Afghanistan was a relatively stable neighbour and the transport of drugs to Russia almost stopped.
If anything the Taleban have fought with the US and west more than they have fought with Russia, but then most of the Taleban were Muj in the 1980s so that point is a bit moot.
The Americans moved to Afghanistan after being kicked out of Iran... the Soviets invaded to kick them out... essentially what the Taleban are doing now is what the Soviets were trying to do in the 1980s, though the Soviets did a lot to try to nation build too like build schools and hospitals and roads, while the Taleban just made lots of rules.
The Americans have don't less to help the Afghan people than the Taleban do... they just want access to Afghanistan because those mountains are full of rare earth minerals...
Not to mention it's not doing any favours for ties with India.
If Russia refuses trade to keep in Indias good books you are going to come off like a needy bitch... India has always bought from multi sources, but 70% of their stuff is Russian or Soviet because it is good stuff that works and does what it says on the tin... not to mention it is cheaper than western stuff even now by a good margin.
India has a billion people, so the majority will be poor... hell the majority of people in the west are actually poor these days with more and more money being moved to the hands of fewer and fewer people. Poor people tend to pay full price for things, while the rich and powerful expect discounts and bonuses and special treatment.
For goodness sake Russia sells Titanium and rocket engines and flights on rockets to the ISS to the US... their worst and most insidious enemy currently.... why would they not sell to just anyone?
If Pakistan collapses, India might extend its border up to Afghanistan and eventually into Central Asia and Russia.
If Pakistan collapses then the chaos of Afghanistan will move closer to India... Pakistan is a problem India is not equipped to fix... just like Russia can't fix Ukraine. They have decided they are different, and there is no point... in fact no interest in taking the time and effort and money to change that.
This will open the flood gates for the influx of millions of Indians into Russia.
So what? Millions of Indians have made the US home and it hasn't collapsed...
Right now Pakistan acts as a buffer between India and Russia.
Not really, there are a few countries between Russia and India...
Pakistan represents a trade partner, and India is an established trade partner... both have potential for increased trade with Russia... don't go looking for enemies because you always find them.... but you always find them because in looking you actually create them... the Russians under Putin wanted good relations with the west, but a partnership of equals... not the abuse that was happening under Yeltsin... it was the west that rejected that... it has taken Putin 20 years to accept that... because potentially it would have been a good deal, but instead there is a new cold war. But Putin wont waste time on an arms race, they are a long way through a reform of their military and are constantly reforming their economy to deal with sanctions and cutting relations with the west and the wests proxies...
Turkey and Pakistan show that at the end of the day even the most loyal stooge of the west gets in Americas black book and can be a potential trade partner for Russia.
Russia is not interested in a cold war and will have good relations with any country... but that country has to want them too... loyal poodles like France muddy the waters by cancelling deals, and Germany is not sending clear messages to the US about NSII, but that is OK... in the end Russia makes the best of a bad situation. Instead of getting to make two more Mistral class ships for Russia I don't think Egypt will want more... they might look at Russias new 40K ton helicopter ships when they hit the water and buy two more of those. With Germany, they can buy cheap piped gas or they can pay several times more for shipped natural gas... wont be a real problem for Russia.
The best case scenario for both Russia and West is that India disintegrates into several smaller states. It's a corrupt country with several fault lines. Those fault lines should be exploited by Russia and West to break India up into a number of smaller nations.
Yeah, that was the plan for Russia too. Not really going to happen though is it?
India is either going to swing to the west or swing to an independent state where it makes its own decisions and chooses its own future.
I see what you mean about disintegrating... Syria, Iraq, Libya, Ukraine, NK/Armenia... they were all in the process of swinging west... and they broke... broken by the west of course... it is a pattern... but it wont work in Russia and I don't think it would work in Belarus or India either... wouldn't surprise me if the next target was Taiwan... getting them to declare independence from China to get some blood flowing so they can redraw lines and damage rivals... it worked for WWI... lines changed all over the place after that, but then that caused WWII and ultimately led to the Cold War too.... some love to play with fire.
Until that happens, Russia should maintain friendly ties with Pakistan.
I would expect Russia will maintain friendly ties with any country wishing to reciprocate.
Pakistan is the shithole most directly responsible in fostering and supporting the mujahideen - the subhumans who wanted to bring Afghanistan back to medieval sharia bullshit and have fought and killed Russians for it. Only a Paki would advocate being friends with Pakistan instead of sanctioning and bombing that hellhole to kingdom come.
It is not Russia in Afghanistan as an invader, there is no current reason for hostility with Pakistan... in fact trading with them could lead to Russian weapons being used against the US and her coalition of the drones, which is not great, but Russia makes some money and Pakistan gets some decent weapons.
The US is happy to supply the Ukraine and terrorists in Syria and elsewhere, many of which are pointed at Russians.
Personally I think if the various religions tone down the anger rhetoric there should be room for different views to coexist... so far it probably isn't possible, but it is done in places like Iran, and formerly in Syria under government rule before the radical terrorists arrived... it is what the west preaches... seems strange that on most battlefields they are on the opposite side of it so often like supporting nazis in the Ukraine and terrorists in Libya and Syria and Afghanistan when the Soviets were there.
The reality is that they don't care about values or ethics and cherry pick information to suit their agenda at the time... which makes them easy to ignore.