Russia decides 'at highest level' to remove Taliban from list of terrorists

Russian Special Presidential Representative for Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov says Moscow has already made a principal decision to remove the Taliban from its list of terrorist organizations.

Kabulov said on Friday the decision had been “taken at the highest level,” the state TASS news agency reported.

Various legal procedures are still to make it a reality, he said, adding a number of other Russian agencies are putting finishing legal touches on the removal of the Taliban movement from Russia’s list of terrorists.

"A principal decision on this has already been made by the Russian leadership. But the process should be carried out within the Russian legal framework,” he said. “Hopefully, the final decision will be announced soon.”

Russia's diplomatic relations with the Taliban started following the withdrawal of US-led Western troops from the war-ravaged country in 2021.

In May, the foreign and justice ministries reported to President Vladimir Putin that the Taliban could be removed from the list of terrorist organizations.

Putin said in July that Moscow considered the Taliban as its ally in the fight against terrorist groups.

Kabulov said back then the removal of the Taliban from the list of banned organizations was required before the official recognition of the country’s new leadership.

“It will be premature to talk about recognition. Therefore, work on this issue continues,” Kabulov added.

He said the Taliban government had come a long way towards being recognized since it came to power in Afghanistan in 2021. “But there are still a few hurdles to overcome, after which the Russian leadership will make a decision.”

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Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also called on Friday for the West to lift sanctions on Taliban-led Afghanistan and take “responsibility” for reconstruction efforts in the country.

“We urge Western countries to recognize their responsibility for the post-conflict reconstruction of Afghanistan, lift sanctions restrictions and return Kabul’s expropriated assets,” Lavrov said.

The Taliban have been under Western sanctions for more than two decades, measures initially imposed to restrict the financing of al-Qaeda and other organizations designated “terrorist” groups.

Lavrov was speaking at the opening of Moscow’s annual Russia-led diplomatic forum on Afghanistan, involving envoys from the Taliban and neighboring countries in West and Central Asia.

Earlier on Friday, Federal Security Service (FSB) Director Alexander Bortnikov said that work to remove the Taliban from the list of terrorist organizations was in the final stages in Russia.

I want to see “mutually beneficial” cooperation with Afghanistan’s special services, state news agencies reported Bortnikov as saying.

Bortnikov pointed out that removing the Taliban from the blacklist of “terrorist and extremist organizations” will boost cooperation with the Afghan government as it further prepares to take on the battle against the Daesh takfiri terrorist remnants growing cells in Afghanistan, threatening to expand their illegal militant operations into the Russian Federation.

“The Taliban is ready to fight the most dangerous wing of the IS, ISIS-K, which is still getting material support from the West which uses the terrorist group’s capacity to carry out subversive false-flag operations on our soil,” the FSB head said.

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