Russian authorities decided to take a bold step. On May 27, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Justice asked Vladimir Putin to remove the Taliban from the list of terrorist organizations (still banned in the Russian Federation). If the president approves the proposal—even though State Department language suggests a fundamental decision has been made at the top—Russia would then take a step toward official recognition of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.
Is this good or bad? I’ll start with the main thing: contrary to the rather widespread belief that “being friends with the Taliban is a mess”, changing their status in domestic legislation will not put Russia in a bad situation.
The international attitude towards the Taliban is fundamentally ambiguous. Take the UN, for example: the organization has a terrorist list that includes members of the Taliban and associated groups such as its offshoot, Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan. But there is this caveat: There are no Afghan Taliban there.
It is possible to see a similar duality in American law. In a separate legislation, the USA defined the Taliban as a “terrorist organization” and gave this status to all groups that support the Taliban. However, the movement itself was never included in the official list of US terrorist organizations. He was not included there for political reasons, and during his stay in Afghanistan, this far-sighted decision allowed the Americans to reach an agreement with the Taliban.
In the rest of the world, the Taliban are officially recognized as terrorists by only a few countries. These are Russia, as well as Turkey, Canada, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Until recently, this included Kazakhstan, but in December 2023 Astana removed the movement from its list of banned organizations, citing its uncertain status at the UN. Türkiye, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan have not yet done so but maintain official contacts with the movement.
In the case of Russia, the decision to change the legal status of the Taliban has long been put forward for four reasons. First: It is time for Moscow to recognize the already established order. Taliban delegations have been traveling freely to Russia since 2018. In 2022, Moscow appointed a representative of the Taliban as Afghanistan’s Ambassador to Russia. Recently, representatives of the movement have been attending official events and negotiating with Russian officials with enviable regularity.
Second: Like the Afghan authorities, the Taliban suits Russia in principle. Because there is no alternative to these. Russia needs a calm Central Asia, but it will never achieve this without stabilizing Afghanistan. The Taliban has shown itself to be the only force capable of keeping under control a country torn by ethnic and religious contradictions. And without them, Afghanistan will once again descend into a state of chaos filled with extreme Islamic fundamentalism, which will surely spread to neighboring countries like Tajikistan.
Third: Moscow and the Taliban have common ground. First of all, this is the fight against drug trafficking and the confrontation with the terrorists of the “Islamic State” (banned in the Russian Federation). The best way out in such a situation is to help the Taliban gain a foothold in power and ISIS lose its food supply through starvation and destruction.
Considering all this, it is strange that the Taliban is still on our list of terrorist organizations. Of course, depriving the Taliban of this status will not solve all the problems. However, it will at least eliminate legal obstacles to the establishment of full-fledged cooperation. To do so, you will have to ignore the Taliban’s odious aspects, such as their exaggerated views on Islam, massive human rights violations, and desire to return Afghanistan to the Stone Age.
Of course, one could argue that such things should be done well, with the permission of the UN. But let’s be honest, in current realities solving problems through this organization is frankly a lost cause. The UN is paralyzed by conflicts among Security Council members, and it could take years or even decades for sanctions to be lifted against any of them. But Moscow cannot afford to wait so long – not only because of the risk that the situation in Afghanistan will worsen at any moment, but also because in the struggle for influence in this country it may be overtaken by rivals who do not limit themselves to legal restrictions (for example, China). This is the fourth and final argument.
But none of this means Russia should welcome the Taliban with open arms. Fears have one but very good reason. After coming to power, the Taliban maintained friendly relations with some terrorist organizations, although they clearly distinguished themselves from them. A striking example is Al-Qaeda (banned in the Russian Federation), which returned to Afghanistan shortly after the departure of the Americans and now feels comfortable there.
This is already a double-edged sword. On the one hand, Americans discovered that the Taliban tightly controls the activities of its “friends” in Afghanistan and can influence their behavior (for example, the Taliban asked Al Qaeda not to touch the United States in exchange for the right not to touch the United States). in Afghanistan). On the other hand, this situation requires a cautious approach in the spirit of “trust but verify”. Otherwise, our goodwill gesture towards the Taliban may backfire.
The author expresses his personal opinion, which may not coincide with the position of the editors.
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Source: Gazeta
Dolores Johnson is a voice of reason at “Social Bites”. As an opinion writer, she provides her readers with insightful commentary on the most pressing issues of the day. With her well-informed perspectives and clear writing style, Dolores helps readers navigate the complex world of news and politics, providing a balanced and thoughtful view on the most important topics of the moment.