Moscow prepares to recognize the Taliban regime

Russia prepares to remove the Taliban from its list of“terrorist organizations”which is widely seen in Moscow as a first step towards official recognition of the regime in Kabul.

The announcement was officially made on May 27 by a representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Zamir Kaboulov, head of the Asia department, in a declaration to the official agency Tass. The rumor that Moscow intended to no longer consider the Taliban as a terrorist organization, therefore banned in Russia, had already been circulating for a while.

But this process has reached its “final phase”, since, according to the Russian diplomat, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and that of Justice jointly submitted a request to this effect to Vladimir Putin. “The removal of the Taliban from this list is obligatory. Without this, it would be premature to talk about recognition. This is why we continue to work on this issue. All considerations have been brought to the attention of the country’s leadership. We are waiting for a decision,” explained Zamir Kabulov.

“Afghanistan is not indifferent to us”

But everything already suggests that it will be positive. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov himself confirmed that the process was underway, explaining that today the Taliban represented the “real power” in Afghanistan. “A country that is not indifferent to us”, he added, in obvious reference to the turbulent history of the Soviet Union, then of Russia, with Kabul.

Russian media recall that the decision to consider the Taliban movement as “terrorist” dates from 2003 and was ratified by the country’s Constitutional Court. At the time, Russia sided with the overwhelming majority of UN countries that refused to recognize the Taliban regime in Kabul. The latter then had to retreat, only to return in force and retake the Afghan capital virtually without fighting in 2021, following the withdrawal of American troops and their allies.

Since then, they have not been internationally recognized, even though some countries, notably China, have established close contacts with Afghan fundamentalists. In Moscow, delegations from Kabul have also participated in at least three public events since 2021: at the St. Petersburg Economic Forum in June 2022, and at the 2023 and 2024 editions of the Russia-Muslim World Economic Forum. , organized in Kazan, in the south of the country.