Russian court to rule on removing Taliban from ‘terror’ list

A Russian state flag waves on top of a hammer and sickle at the State Duma, lower parliament chamber, headquarters in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2017. (AP / Alexander Zemlianichenko)

Moscow, Russia — Russia’s Supreme Court will rule next month on removing the Taliban group from a list of banned “terrorist” organisations, Russian news agencies reported Monday.

Moscow has courted relations with the Taliban authorities since they seized power in Afghanistan after the United States’ chaotic withdrawal in 2021.

The Supreme Court is set to hold a hearing on the Taliban’s status on April 17, the TASS news agency reported, citing the court’s press service.

The hearing behind closed doors is expected to lift the ban after the Prosecutor General’s Office issued a legal request to do so.

President Vladimir Putin in December signed a law approved by parliament that made it legally possible to remove the Taliban from the list.

Under the law, such a decision can be taken by a court on the basis of a request from the Prosecutor General stating that the group has ceased “terrorist” activity. Russia’s FSB security service can then remove the group.

The expected move would not amount to a formal recognition of the Taliban government and what it calls the “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan”, a step no country has yet taken.

Moscow has warmed relations with Afghanistan -- with which it has a complicated history after the Soviet invasion in the 1980s -- since the US exit from the country.

Taliban members visited Russia on the Kremlin’s invitation for talks on Afghanistan even before then, despite the ban, which was issued in 2003.

Putin said last summer that the Taliban were Moscow’s “allies” in fighting terrorism because they were in control of Afghanistan and had an interest in its stability.

The Taliban government has been fighting against the rival Islamic State Khorasan (IS-K) jihadist group in Afghanistan for years.

In 2024, IS-K claimed responsibility for an assault on a Moscow concert hall that killed more than 140 people, the deadliest terror attack in Russia for almost two decades.