Russia’s Supreme Court on Thursday lifted its long-standing ban on Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban, removing the group from its list of designated terrorist organizations more than 20 years after it was first added. The move comes nearly three years after the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan in August 2021, following the withdrawal of U.S. and NATO forces after two decades of war.
"The decision to suspend the ban on the Taliban in Russia is subject to immediate execution," Judge Oleg Nefedov said Thursday.
The Attorney General's Office in Moscow filed a request in March to remove the group from the blacklist of terrorist organizations.
The Taliban have been on Russia's terror list since 2003. However, the Russian government quickly established contacts with the leadership in Kabul after the Taliban's violent takeover of power in Afghanistan in 2021.
Despite their widespread international isolation, Taliban delegations have visited Moscow several times. The Russian government justified the contacts as necessary for the stabilization of Afghanistan.
The Russian parliament and President Vladimir Putin had previously paved the way for the court decision on the Taliban.
The Soviet Union waged war in Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989.
Afghanistan's Taliban authorities on Thursday praised the Russian move to scrap their designation as a "terrorist organization," saying it was a "significant development" in relations with Moscow.
In a meeting with Moscow's ambassador to Afghanistan, Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi thanked Russia "for this step and called it a significant development in relations between Afghanistan and Russia," said a ministry statement on X.
The former Soviet Union fought a 10-year war in Afghanistan that ended with Moscow withdrawing its troops in 1989.
Russian officials have recently been emphasizing the need to engage with the Taliban to help stabilize Afghanistan.
In recent years, the Central Asian nations of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan have removed the Taliban from their lists of terrorist groups.
Taliban's restrictive measures have isolated it on the world stage, although their government has established diplomatic ties with countries including China and the United Arab Emirates.
The U.N. this year renewed its call for the Taliban to lift the bans.
