Russia Says Decision ‘Taken at the Highest Level’ to Remove Taliban from Terrorist List

The Russian Foreign Ministry announced on Friday that a decision has been “taken at the highest level” to remove the Taliban from Russia’s list of terrorist organizations.

Russia designated the Taliban as a terrorist organization in 2003, in part because the Taliban was backing separatists in the North Caucasus at the time. The Russians were still worried about that connection as recently as 2021, when they feared President Joe Biden’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan would inspire Islamist North Caucasian militants – some of whom gained combat and terrorism experience by volunteering to fight for the Taliban in Afghanistan – to emulate the Taliban’s victory.

Moscow evidently set those concerns aside to build political and economic ties with the Taliban regime in Kabul.

President Vladimir Putin’s envoy to Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov, told Russian state media in May that relations with the Taliban had improved enough to remove them from Russia’s list of terrorist organizations.

“There are still a few hurdles to overcome, after which the Russian leadership will make a decision,” Kabulov anticipated, without saying what those issues might be.

At around the same time, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the Taliban was clearly the “real power” in Afghanistan, so delisting it as a terrorist organization simply reflected “objective reality.”

On Friday, Lavrov called on Western nations to lift their sanctions on the Taliban, return “Kabul’s expropriated assets,” and “recognize their responsibility for the post-conflict reconstruction of Afghanistan.”

“It is obvious that it is impossible to solve problems or even discuss an Afghan settlement without Kabul,” he said. He went on to praise Taliban leaders for curbing the production of opium and fighting the Islamic state.

Lavrov made his remarks from a Russian-led diplomatic forum on Afghanistan, at which Kabulov was also present, along with Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi.

Muttaqi expressed gratitude at the forum for Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan removing the Taliban from their own terrorist lists.

“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,” the Taliban minister said.

Kabulov said there were still some procedural hurdles to overcome before the Taliban was officially removed from Russia’s terrorist list. He did not give a timetable for completing these steps.