9 Jul. () –
The Russian government said Tuesday that the process to remove the Taliban from its list of extremist organizations is progressing at a good pace, in yet another gesture by the Kremlin toward the fundamentalists, whom President Vladimir Putin referred to a few days ago as “allies” against terrorism.
This was announced by Zamir Kabulov, a senior official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and special representative of the Russian Government for Afghanistan, who explained that there are still some steps to be taken before the final confirmation is made.
Asked whether the procedures for excluding Islamists from the blacklist were going well, Kabulov replied “of course,” the Russian news agency TASS reported.
The Russian government announced at the end of May its willingness to remove the Taliban from its list of terrorist groups, a proposal that seems to please Putin, who, being pragmatic, has referred on several occasions to the need to strengthen relations with Afghanistan, once the Taliban are in power.
The Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021 after a meteoric advance to Kabul amid the flight of then-Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and international troops following two decades of occupation.
In September 2021, the Taliban formed an interim government headed by Mohammad Hasan Akhund, one of the founders of the movement. Since then, they have imposed sharia law and numerous restrictions, particularly on women and girls.
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