In an unexplainable move, Russia seems poised to remove the Taliban from its list of officially designated terrorist organizations.
State news agency TASS reported on Friday that the Foreign Ministry in Russia said a decision to remove the Taliban from that list has been “taken at the highest level.”
Zamir Kabulov, a special representative on Afghanistan to Russian President Vladimir Putin, added that there are multiple legal procedures that need to be followed before that can actually become reality, though.
Still, it follows what Putin said a few months ago — that Russia considered the Taliban movement in Afghanistan as an ally in the fight against terrorism. This, of course, comes as much of the world considers the Taliban to be a terrorist organization — the group that ruled Afghanistan at the time of 9/11 and hosted the Al-Qaeda network in the country.
The Taliban was overthrown from power in Afghanistan not long after the United States initiated its war effort there following the September 11 terrorist attacks in America.
However, the terrorist group quickly regained power in August of 2021 after U.S. military forces withdrew haphazardly from the country under a botched plan led by President Joe Biden.
There isn’t one country in the world that has formally recognized the Taliban as the legitimate leaders of Afghanistan, although both the UAE and China have accepted ambassadors from the group.
The movement is even outlawed in Russia officially, still. Russia first added the Taliban to its terrorist organizations list in 2003.
Now, though, it appears as though Putin is considering reversing course. If he does so, it would go a long way in normalizing relationships between Russia and Afghanistan.
Amir Khan Muttaqi, the acting foreign minister of the Taliban, traveled to Moscow recently, where he gave a speech. During that speech, he said recent decisions by Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan to remove the Taliban from a list of banned groups was a step that was very welcomed.
He added:
“We also appreciate the positive remarks by the high-ranking officials of the Russian Federation in this regard and hope to see more effective steps soon.”
Sergei Lavrov, the foreign minister of Russia, said on Friday that Moscow is now convinced that it needs to maintain “pragmatic dialogue” with Afghanistan’s current government, led by the Taliban.
As he said:
“It is obvious that it is impossible to solve problems or even discuss an Afghan settlement without Kabul. Moscow will continue its course on developing political, trade and economic ties with Kabul.”
Lavrov notedly didn’t mention the Taliban specifically by name, though he praised the leadership of Afghanistan for the efforts it’s undertaken to fight the Islamic State and curb the production of drugs.
Muttaqi added that countries in their region should all work together against the Islamic State — a group he said has set up training centers recently outside of Afghanistan.
Lavrov added that he believes American should return all assets it confiscated from Afghanistan to the country, and western nations should also acknowledge that they were responsible for the destruction of the country as a whole.
