Russian deputies voted on Tuesday for a law allowing the authorities to remove the Taliban from the list of organizations banned in Russia, at a time when Vladimir Putin says he wants to strengthen cooperation with Afghanistan, isolated on the international scene. The text was approved on both second and third readings by deputies in the Duma, the lower house of the Russian Parliament.
According to this law, “the ban” of an organization on Russian soil can now be “temporarily suspended” by a court decision in the event “real evidence” that said group “ceased to carry out activities aimed at propaganda, advocacy and support of terrorism”. The text must now be examined by the Federation Council, the upper house of the Russian Parliament, before being handed over to Vladimir Putin for signature, a formality.
During a visit to Kabul at the end of November, the secretary of the Russian Security Council, Sergei Shoigu, affirmed that Moscow would “Soon” remove the Taliban, back in power since 2021, from the list of organizations banned in Russia. The Taliban have been on this list since 2003, which does not prevent Moscow from having relations with them and receiving their emissaries on its soil.
No formal recognition of the Taliban government
The expected decision would not, however, amount to formal recognition of the Taliban government, nor of the“Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan”. In July, Russian President Vladimir Putin said he considered the Taliban to be “allies in the fight against terrorism”.
The head of Russian diplomacy Sergei Lavrov, at the beginning of October, called on the West to lift sanctions targeting Afghanistan and to take “responsibility” of the reconstruction of this country ravaged by decades of war. Russia's allies in Central Asia, neighbors of Afghanistan, also want to improve their relations with the Taliban. Kazakhstan thus removed the group from its own list of groups “terrorists” banned in December 2023.
The Soviet Union fought a 10-year war in Afghanistan in the 1980s. Many anti-Soviet fighters later became leaders of the Taliban.
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