KABUL - Afghanistan's defense minister left the capital Wednesday for a three-day visit to Russia, where he'll meet Russian President Vladimir Putin, a defense official said.

Defense Minister Mohammed Fahim also will meet his Russian counterpart, Sergei Ivanov, and other senior officials, said Gen. Mir Jan, in charge of foreign relations at the Defense Ministry in Kabul.

Russia has been involved in the reconstruction of post-Taliban Afghanistan despite years of animosity following a decade-long invasion by troops of the former Soviet Union in the 1980s that left 1.5 million people dead. Most Afghans remain deeply suspicious of their northern neighbor.