Russia removes Taliban’s designation as terror group

The Russian Supreme Court on Thursday lifted a ban on Taliban activities in Russia and removed the Taliban from a list of terror groups, according to Russian state media. The closed-door ruling was the first to use a December 2024 legal provision that allowed temporary suspension of bans on terror groups, based on evidence that terrorist activities had ceased.

Russian state media did not address the Taliban group in Pakistan. While the United States formally does not recognize the Taliban or any other group as governing Afghanistan, it has designated the so-called Pakistani Taliban as a foreign terrorist organization since 2010.

Russian ambassador Dmitry Zhirnov on Thursday personally delivered the news to the Taliban’s foreign minister, Maulvi Amir Khan Muttaqi. The two discussed political and economic cooperation between Russia and Afghanistan’s de facto government, according to Taliban foreign affairs spokesman Hafiz Zia Ahmad.

What type of projects does Russia want to collaborate on with the Taliban? Russia plans to invest in trade with Afghanistan and build energy and infrastructure there, especially due to the country’s strategic geographical position, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a Thursday statement. Russia also said it wanted to collaborate on antidrug and anti-terrorism initiatives and thanked the Taliban for subduing the Afghan branch of the Islamic State group, also known as ISIS-K.

Dig deeper:Read my report on the Taliban’s recent push to detain men for having Western hairstyles.