Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told Russian media on Tuesday his government is planning to remove the Afghan Taliban from its list of designated foreign terrorist organizations to facilitate diplomacy with Afghanistan.
“The Taliban are the ones holding real power [in Afghanistan]. Just as the People’s Republic of China, we have never closed down our embassy there,” Lavrov reportedly said, according to the Afghan network Tolo News.
Lavrov described delisting the Taliban as a terrorist organization and establishing formal diplomatic ties as necessary to “accepting reality.”
“The Afghan Ambassador presented his credentials to Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing along with other ambassadors. Kazakhstan has recently decided to remove them from the list of terrorist organizations,” Lavrov reportedly said. “We are going to do this, too.”
“The UN Security Council did not declare the Taliban a terrorist organization. There are twelve to fifteen specific persons on the list. But the main point is that they are the real power,” he insisted.
Dozens of women made a rare show of defiance against the brutal Taliban regime in Afghanistan’s capital of Kabul on Wednesday, marching against the ban on beauty salons issued early this month by the extremist government. https://t.co/peWay29hY1
— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) July 21, 2023
The Taliban, which have directed significant efforts in the past three years towards expanding business and diplomatic ties with neighbors, reacted to the potential improvement of relations with Russia with enthusiasm.
“We commend Russia’s action and hope it is implemented as soon as possible. Afghanistan wants to have good relations with all countries, including Russia,” Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban’s top spokesman, told Tolo News.
“The above-mentioned decision by the Russian [leadership] undoubtedly means the removal of obstacles to [the establishment of] official relations between…