Russia decides to white-list Taliban as movement restores order in Afghanistan

Russia is finalising the issue to exclude the Taliban movement from the list of terrorist organizations. The movement works to "restore order and maintain stability” in Afghanistan.

Photo: flickr.com by isafmedia, CC BY 2.0

"Establishing pragmatic cooperation through special services is of mutual interest," FSB Director Alexander Bortnikov said, Interfax reports.

The decision to exclude the Taliban from the list of terrorist organizations has already been made at the highest level, but legal procedures must be observed, Russian Presidential Representative for Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov said.

According to Bortnikov, the Taliban is ready to fight the Afghan wing of ISIS terror group known as Vilayat Khorasan (banned in the Russian Federation), "which continues to receive resource support from the West as the West wants to use the capabilities of the terrorist group in false flag subversive operations in Russia."

The Taliban movement seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021 almost without a fight after the United States, its allies and the government they supported hastily left the country after 20 years of presence. To date, no country in the world has recognised the movement as the legitimate government of Afghanistan. However, many countries, including Russia, China and Iran maintain relations with representatives of the movement.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, answering a question about the possible exclusion of the Taliban from the Russian list of terrorist organizations, said that the movement "acts as the government in Afghanistan, and relations with them must be built based on reality."

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The Taliban, which also refers to itself by its state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is an Afghan political and militant movement with an ideology comprising elements of Pashtun nationalism and the Deobandi movement of Islamic fundamentalism. It ruled approximately 75% of Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, before it was overthrown by an American invasion after the September 11th attacks carried out by the Taliban's ally al-Qaeda. The Taliban recaptured Kabul in August 2021 following the departure of coalition forces, after 20 years of Taliban insurgency, and now controls the entire country. The Taliban government is not recognized by any country and has been internationally condemned for restricting human rights, including women's rights to work and have an education.