The Russian government is planning to remove Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban authorities from its list of state-designated terrorist organizations, a Kremlin official told state media on Friday.
"The Foreign Ministry, jointly with the FSB and a number of other Russian agencies, is putting finishing legal touches on the removal of the Taliban movement from Russia's list of terrorists," Zamir Kamulov, the country’s Special Presidential Representative for Afghanistan, disclosed to the TASS News Agency.
"A principal decision on this has already been made by the Russian leadership. But the process should be carried out within the Russian legal framework. Hopefully, the final decision will be announced soon," he continued.
In a separate address at a diplomatic forum last week, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called upon Western countries to "acknowledge responsibility for the post-conflict reconstruction of Afghanistan, lift sanctions restrictions, and return Kabul's appropriated assets," before praising the repressive regime for fighting the Islamic State and curbing narcotics production.
Moscow first listed the Taliban as a terrorist organization in 2003, in response to the group’s support for separatist fighters in the North Caucasus.
