Russia's Foreign Ministry announced on Friday that the decision to remove the Taliban from Russia's list of terrorist organizations was “taken at the highest level.”
Russia designated the Taliban as a terrorist organization in 2003, partly because of its support. separatist North Caucasus at that time. Russians were still there I was worried As recently as 2021, they have discussed this relationship with President Joe Biden's disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, in which white Islamist extremists, some of whom have volunteered to fight for the Taliban in Afghanistan, are involved in combat and terrorist attacks. There were concerns that the Taliban might emulate the Taliban victory.
Moscow apparently set aside these concerns and forged political and economic ties with the Taliban regime in Kabul.
Zamir Kabulov, President Vladimir Putin's special envoy to Afghanistan, said Russian state media reported in May that relations with the Taliban had improved enough to be removed from Russia's list of terrorist organizations.
Kabulov predicted that “there will still be some hurdles to overcome, after which the Russian leadership will take a decision,” but did not say what those issues would be.
Around the same time, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the Taliban were clearly the “actual powers” in Afghanistan and that the removal of their designation as a terrorist organization merely reflected “objective reality.”
Friday, Lavrov called Western countries have called for the lifting of sanctions on the Taliban, the return of “confiscated assets in Kabul” and “acknowledgement of responsibility for the reconstruction of post-conflict Afghanistan.”
“It is clear that without Kabul it is impossible to resolve the issue or even discuss Afghan reconciliation,” he said. He went on to praise Taliban leaders for curbing opium production and fighting the Islamic State.
Lavrov was speaking at a Russian-led diplomatic forum on Afghanistan, which Kabulov attended along with Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan al-Muttaqi.
muttaki expressed The forum expressed gratitude to Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan for removing the Taliban from their terrorist lists.
“We also appreciate the positive statements of Russian Federation officials in this regard and look forward to more effective measures soon,” the Taliban minister said.
Kabulov said there were still some procedural hurdles before the Taliban could be officially removed from Russia's terrorist list. He did not provide a timeline for completing these steps.
