Moscow delists Afghan Taliban as terror group amid growing ties

(AFP): Russia’s Supreme Court on Thursday removed the Taliban’s designation as a "terrorist organisation", a symbolic gesture aimed at building friendly ties with Afghanistan’s de facto rulers.

The group seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021, when American forces supporting the country’s internationally recognised government pulled out.

Moscow, which called the US withdrawal a "failure", has taken steps to normalise relations with the Taliban authorities since then, seeing them as a potential economic partner and ally in fighting terrorism.

"The previously established ban on the activities of the Taliban — included on the unified federal list of organisations recognised as terrorist —  has been suspended," Supreme Court Judge Oleg Nefedov said in a ruling, according to the TASS state news agency.

"The decision enters into legal force immediately," he added.

Russia’s Prosecutor General asked the court to remove the group’s "terrorist" designation last month, following several trips to Russia by top Taliban officials.

A Taliban delegation attended Russia’s flagship economic forum in Saint Petersburg in 2022 and in 2024, and the group’s top diplomat met Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow last October.

The decision to suspend the label does not amount to formal recognition for the Taliban authorities, which are seeking international legitimacy.

But it helps avoid embarrassment for Russian officials meeting representatives from the group at high-profile events.

Shifting attitudes

Moscow’s attitude toward the Taliban has shifted drastically over the last two decades.

The group was formed in 1994 during the Afghan Civil War, largely by former Mujahideen fighters who battled the Soviet Union during the 1980s.

The Soviet-Afghan war, which left thousands of young Soviet men dead and wounded, resulted in a stinging defeat for Moscow that hastened the demise of the USSR.

Moscow put the Taliban on its terrorist blacklist in 2003 over its support for separatists in the North Caucasus.

But the Taliban’s return to power in 2021 has forced Russia and other countries in the region to change tack as they compete for influence.

Russia was the first country to open a business representative office in Kabul after the Taliban takeover, and has announced plans to use Afghanistan as a transit hub for gas heading to Southeast Asia.

In July 2024, Russian President Vladimir Putin called the Taliban "allies in the fight against terrorism".

Both Russia and the Taliban authorities have been trying to eradicate Daesh, also known as Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K), group responsible for deadly attacks in both Afghanistan and Russia, including an attack on a Moscow concert hall in March 2024 that killed 145.

Other countries have also sought to foster ties with the Taliban authorities, though no state has yet moved to officially recognise them.

Kazakhstan announced last year that it had removed the Taliban from its list of "terrorist organisations".

In 2023, China became the first country to appoint a new ambassador to Kabul and has forged growing economic links with its new rulers.