Russia de facto interacts with the Taliban, but de jure does not recognize their government and political regime.
Source: Telegram channel "Highly Likely"
Yesterday, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation suspended the ban on the activities of the Taliban movement, previously included in the unified list of terrorist organizations.
We discussed the new status of the Taliban in relations with Russia with Andrey Serenko, head of the Russian Society of Political Scientists' analytical center and author of the Telegram channel Andrey Serenko.
- What new opportunities does the suspension of the ban on the activities of the Taliban movement provide for Russian foreign policy?
- The exclusion of the Afghan Taliban from the list of terrorist organizations banned in the Russian Federation is an ambiguous political gesture. It is unlikely that Moscow's political position in Taliban Afghanistan will be strengthened. For the Taliban, the decision to exclude them from the Russian "black list" is nothing more than a media episode. Moreover, Russia does not refuse to comply with the UN sanctions that continue to operate against the Taliban movement and regime. It is also obvious that this event will deprive Moscow of potential friends among non-Taliban Afghan political groups. Moscow may try to play the card with the rehabilitation of the Taliban in other game combinations that have only some relation to Afghanistan. But all this is nothing more than assumptions, all these combinations are very unreliable. I do not think that after the decision of the Russian court, the Taliban will turn into a great sincere friend and ally of the Russian Federation.
- Can this step contribute to the Taliban's withdrawal from international isolation?
- No, this gesture alone does not solve the problem of gaining international legitimacy for the Taliban. Moreover, Russia also still does not recognize the legitimacy of the Taliban regime. Today, Moscow has only temporarily stopped (the decision was made to temporarily suspend the presence of the Taliban on the "black list"), recognizing the Taliban as a banned terrorist organization. No less, but no more than that. Yes, Russia de facto interacts with the Taliban, but de jure does not recognize their government and political regime.
- How do you see the prospects for the development of relations between Russia and Afghanistan?
- They will remain unstable and unsustainable. The Taliban has yet to gain internal and external legitimacy, or not to gain it. So far, the Taliban have done little in this regard. In many ways, they remain political outcasts, they are treated as political hooligans, recognized as a source of threats and problems, who came to power by force in a country that is a "rest home" for 20 jihadist terrorist organizations. In my opinion, Russia should not have a monopoly on friendship with the Taliban. As Afghan politics shows, those who do not put all their eggs in one basket and maintain contacts, develop relations with all active political forces, win.
