The Supreme Court of Russia is scheduled to review a petition to remove the Taliban jihadist organization ruling Afghanistan from the country’s official list of terrorist organizations on April 17, Russian news outlets reported on Monday.
According to the Russian news agency Tass, the Supreme Court will review a petition by the nation’s prosecutor general. The review will be the first of its kind, as the regime of strongman Vladimir Putin created a mechanism for removing groups from the terrorist list only in December – and, on that occasion, Russian officials described the measure as directed almost exclusive at the Taliban.
The Taliban is a Sunni jihadist terror organization that ruled Afghanistan for much of the 1990s but lost power following the American invasion of the country in 2001. The administration of then-President George W. Bush targeted the Taliban due to its relationship with al-Qaeda, the jihadist group responsible for the September 11, 2001, attacks on the American homeland.
The group waged war against America and the legitimate government of Afghanistan for two decades before conquering Kabul, the nation’s capital, in August 2021, following the collapse of the nation’s military. The fall of Kabul immediately followed then-President Joe Biden announcing that he would violate an agreement the Taliban signed with President Donald Trump that would have seen American troops depart the country in May 2021, extending the 20-year-old Afghan War.
While the mujahideen that ultimately became the Taliban famously fought against the Soviet Union in the 1980s, Putin moved rapidly following the fall of Kabul to establish a diplomatic relationship with the Taliban. Russia has not formally recognized the Taliban as the government of Afghanistan despite its status as undisputed ruler, however, due to its official recognition as a terrorist group.
“Russia’s Supreme Court has received and initiated proceedings on an administrative legal claim by the Russian prosecutor general on suspending the ban on activities by the Taliban movement,” the Supreme Court announced, according to Tass.
The Taliban first appeared on Russia’s terror group list in 2003. To depart the list, as per the provisions of the law signed in December, the petitioner – in this case, the prosecutor general – must present evidence showing that the Taliban is no longer engaging in “propaganda, justification, and support of terrorism,” Tass detailed. The suspension would technically be temporary.
The court is widely expected to remove the Taliban from the list despite the high threshold for doing so, as Putin regime officials have in the past claimed that Putin has already decided to formally recognize the group as the government of Afghanistan. Russia rapidly moved to cultivate a relationship with the Taliban after its capture of the country in August 2021; in October, Russia announced it would help the Taliban with a “humanitarian operation.”
At the time, top Russian diplomat for Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov said that the “humanitarian” operation in question faced “a lot of logistical issues,” presumably referring to the terrorist designation. Russia joined several other rogue states shortly thereafter in issuing vague statements unofficially accepting the Taliban, including signing a statement in October 2021 accepting negotiation with the Taliban and backing a United Nations Security Council resolution in March 2022 that allowed its members to work with “all relevant Afghan political actors.” At the time, the Taliban was, and remains, the only “relevant” political actor in the country.
Putin himself stated in October 2021 that Russia would remove the Taliban from its terror list only with United Nations recognition.
“All of us expect that these people, the Taliban, who are undoubtedly in control of the situation in Afghanistan will ensure that the situation develop in a positive fashion,” he said at the time.
Kabulov, the Russian diplomat, told Russian state media in October 2024 that the decision to delist the Taliban as terrorists had already been made, but that Moscow had to find a way to override its anti-terrorism laws to make it happen.
“There are still a few hurdles to overcome, after which the Russian leadership will make a decision,” Kabulov said, though he noted that the decision to remove them was “taken at the highest level” already.
At press time, no country has officially recognized the Taliban as the government of Afghanistan. Most who have not done so cite the fact that the Taliban remains a brutal, fundamentalist jihadist organization that regularly terrorizes its own people. Taliban jihadists immediately began to strip away fundamental civil rights upon assuming power, especially those of women. The Taliban has, among other provisions, banned women from leaving their homes, imposed onerous architectural laws to prevent men outside from potentially seeing the silhouette of a woman in a window, and held mass floggings of civilians believed to have violated the Taliban’s draconian “morality” laws.
Several anti-American rogue states, however – most prominent China and Iran – have established friendly ties with the regime, anyway. The Taliban’s top spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, told the Afghan outlet Tolo News on Monday that the jihadists are preparing a campaign to convince the world to embrace them. Mujahid complained that much of the world had not taken “fundamental steps” to improve their relations with the Taliban.
“Afghanistan is an important country for the world and the UN, and the rights of the Afghan people are being undermined in this stance. They should have a better position,” he said.
Follow Frances Martel on Facebook and Twitter.
Read the full article here
