Russia lifts ban on Taliban amid growing ties with the group

Russia’s Supreme Court lifted a ban on the Taliban, the latest step in growing relations between Moscow and the Islamist group in Afghanistan.

“The decision comes into legal force immediately,” the court said on Thursday, according to the state-run Tass news agency.

The Supreme Court received the administrative claim from the Prosecutor General’s Office, the Interfax news agency reported on 31 March. The Taliban was recognised as a terrorist organisation and outlawed in Russia in 2003.

Ties between Moscow and Afghanistan have grown following the US’s 2021 exit from the country. Russia is one of the few countries to keep its diplomatic mission in Kabul open. Taliban delegations also have visited Russia, including to attend last June’s flagship St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, Tass reported at the time.

A handful of countries, including China, Pakistan and Russia, have accepted Taliban diplomats, but they don’t formally recognise the government, which has been condemned internationally for repeated human rights violations.