Russia to Remove Taliban from Terrorist Organizations List

According to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, the Taliban are “the real power” in Afghanistan. In comments to the TASS agency, the head of Russian diplomacy emphasized that “the UN Security Council has never declared the Taliban a terrorist organization,” and for this reason “excluding them from the list of terrorist organizations would reflect objective reality.”

Earlier, the Russian Foreign Ministry and the Justice Ministry sent a letter to President Vladimir Putin, in which they wrote that the Taliban movement could be removed from Russia’s list of banned organizations. Zamir Kabulov, director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Second Asia Department, explained to the media that “the measure will be necessary” to recognize the Taliban government: “The proposal is being analyzed. All considerations were reported to the top Russian leadership. We are waiting for a decision,” Kabulov said. According to many political observers, the Taliban will be removed from the Russian blacklist, especially after the Kremlin’s decision to invite a Taliban delegation to participate in the SPIEF International Economic Forum, which will be held in St. Petersburg on June 5-8.

Kabulov emphasized that Moscow has recently developed several areas of cooperation with Kabul, particularly in the energy and trade sectors. Traditionally, Afghans are interested in developing cooperation with Russia for the purchase of oil products, agricultural machinery, and consumer goods. “Russia is interested in Afghanistan to increase transit through its territory to expand trade with this very large region of the world,” the Russian diplomat said in a summary. Russia has recently launched a series of international consultations on the construction of a gas pipeline and an intercontinental railroad that would connect Russia with Afghanistan, Pakistan, and reach India’s industrial centers and ports through the territories of the former Soviet republics of Central Asia.