Russia is preparing to remove terrorist designation from Taliban's Zamir Kamrov, Russia's special envoy to Afghanistan. announced on FridayAccording to state media.
Kamrov said the Federal Security Service, Russia's security services and “other” agencies were “making the legal final touches to remove the Taliban movement from Russia's terrorist list.”
“The main decisions on this have already been taken by the Russian leadership,” he told reporters. “However, this process should be carried out within the Russian legal framework.”
The Taliban have been on Russia's terrorist list since 2003. However, Russia has made inroads with the group in recent years since the Taliban took power following the Biden administration's withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan in 2021.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met On Friday, he met with Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi and discussed “Moscow-Kabul cooperation.”
“Ignoring criticism from the international community, the United States continues to illegally hold Afghanistan's state-owned assets and maintains severe sanctions against the country's banking sector,” Lavrov said. said At the beginning of his meeting.
“Once again, we urgently call on Western countries to accept responsibility for Afghanistan's post-conflict reconstruction, lift sanctions restrictions and return diverted assets in Kabul,” it added.
Lavrov also praised the Taliban's efforts in combating drugs and confronting Islamic State. The foreign minister called for increased humanitarian assistance and vowed that Russia would continue to provide food and other supplies to the group.
In July, President Putin called the Taliban a “reliable ally” and suggested the group could support Russia in its fight against Islamic State. ISIS-K was credited with a terrorist attack on a Moscow concert hall earlier this year that killed more than 130 people.
The threat from terrorist organizations such as ISIS has skyrocketed around the world since the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, marking a new phase in the fight against terrorism.
