Russian Special Presidential Representative for Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov told reporters on Oct. 4: “The [Russian] Foreign Ministry jointly with the FSB [Russia’s Federal Security Service] and a number of other Russian agencies are putting finishing legal touches on the removal of the Taliban movement from Russia’s list of terrorists.” Kabulov made the remarks at the conclusion of the meeting on Afghanistan in Moscow.
Earlier that day, the Director of the FSB Alexander Bortnikov said “the Taliban is ready to fight the most dangerous wing of the Islamic State (IS), ISIS-K,” TASS quoted him as saying.
This is a major decision by Russia, which had placed the Taliban on its list of terrorist organizations in 2003. Russia’s decision indicates not only the changed nature of the Taliban, but also the intent to develop the entire Eurasian continent, as President Putin has elaborated.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said, speaking at his meeting with Kabul’s Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi: “We proceed from the fact that Afghanistan is more and more organically fitting into our broad regional family. And all participants in today’s meeting, in their own way, with national characteristics, spoke about the need for Afghanistan to finally return to this regional family, and all states in our format expressed their readiness and determination to provide every possible assistance to this.” Lavrov also met with Amir Khan Muttaqi, the foreign minister in the interim government of Afghanistan, to discuss drugs and terrorism, according to Kabulov.
