Russia Decides at Highest Level to Remove Taliban from Terrorist List: TASS News Agency Report

Russia Decides at Highest Level to Remove Taliban from Terrorist List: TASS News Agency Report Image: Reuters

Dil Bar Irshad | October 4, 2024 | 07:32 PM IST | Breaking News, Russia, World | Follow on Google News

Russia Decides at Highest Level to Remove Taliban from Terrorist List: TASS News Agency Report

Russia Decides at Highest Level to Remove Taliban from Terrorist List: TASS News Agency Report

In a major development, Russia’s foreign ministry has reportedly decided “at the highest level” to remove the Taliban from its list of terrorist organizations, according to the TASS News Agency.

This decision will be followed by various legal procedures to make it a reality, as quoted by President’s special representative on Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov, by TASS.

Ties between Russia and the Taliban have slowly grown since the Taliban took power in Afghanistan in August 2021, following 20 years of war. In 2003, Russia added the Taliban to its list of terrorist organizations. Recently, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan also decided to remove the Taliban from their lists of banned groups.

Amir Khan Muttaqi, the Taliban’s acting foreign minister, welcomed the decisions made by Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.

“We appreciate the positive remarks made by high-ranking officials of the Russian Federation, and we expect more effective steps soon,” he stated.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, speaking at a meeting in Moscow, said, “Moscow will continue to discuss political, trade, and economic ties with Kabul. We are convinced of the need to have a pragmatic dialogue with the Afghan government.”

Lavrov further stated, “Without Kabul, it is impossible to solve issues related to Afghan settlement talks.” He praised the current Afghan leadership, without directly mentioning the word “Taliban,” for its efforts in combating drug issues and ISIS, which is outlawed in Russia.

So far, no country has officially recognized Afghanistan’s Taliban government, but positive developments are being observed after Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan removed the Taliban from their lists of banned organizations.

Dil Bar Irshad

Dil Bar Irshad is a seasoned journalist, hails from Jammu Kashmir's Doda, covers political, social, business stories, index stories.