Russia mulls excluding Taliban from list of extremist organizations

Russian authorities are currently exploring the possibility of removing the Taliban from its list of terrorist organizations, as announced by the Russian Foreign Ministry, Kazinform news agency reports citing TASS news agency.

“As for revoking the Taliban's status as a terrorist organization, this issue is being jointly addressed by the Russian Foreign Ministry, the Ministry of Justice, and other relevant Russian agencies,” reads the Russian foreign ministry’s statement, as quoted by TASS. 

The final decision on this matter will be made by the Russian leadership.

Kazakhstan removed the Taliban from its list of terrorist organizations in December 2023. Explaining Kazakhstan's decision in an interview with Kazinform, the ministry's spokesperson Aibek Smadiyarov said Kazakhstan revises the national list of prohibited terrorist organizations on a regular basis to keep it up to date. As part of this process, it was decided to exclude the Taliban from this list as per the United Nations practice.