The extreme Islamist Taliban movement is banned in Russia as a terrorist organization.
President Vladimir Putin the extremist Islamist Taliban movement that rules Afghanistan is Russia’s ally in the war against terrorism, the country’s state news agencies say Tass and Interfax.
– In general, we have to start from the fact that the Taliban has power in Afghanistan. In this sense, the Taliban is definitely our ally in the fight against terrorism, Putin said, according to Tassi.
– The Taliban has repeatedly communicated that they are ready to work with us on the anti-terrorist path, Putin continued.
Reluctantly, both Interfax and Tass mention in their coverage that the Taliban is banned in Russia as a terrorist organization. In Russia, the law obliges communication media to mention if the news is about an entity defined as a terrorist organization. The Taliban was added to the list of terrorist organizations in 2003.
However, Russia has expressed its desire to remove the Taliban from the list. This has been demanded by, for example, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Justice, Tass tells.
In April, also the spokesman for the Kremlin Dmitry Peskov took a stand on the matter. According to Peskov, Russia and Afghanistan have “important issues to resolve”, which is why the Taliban should be removed from the list of terrorist organizations.
– Afghanistan is a country next to us. One way or another we are connected to them. We need to resolve important issues and this requires dialogue. In this regard, we communicate with them, Peskov said according to news agency Reuters.