Russia to Remove Taliban From Terrorist List, Calls on West to Lift Sanctions on Afghanistan

Taliban fighters celebrate one year since they seized the Afghan capital, Kabul, in front of the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Aug. 15, 2022. Ebrahim Noroozi/AP Photo

Russia is moving to drop the Taliban’s designation as a terrorist organization, while urging the West to lift its own sanctions on Afghanistan, which the Taliban controls.

“Russia is finalizing work to remove the Taliban movement from its list of organizations designated as terrorist,” Alexander Bortnikov, director of the Russian Federal Security Service, announced on Oct. 4 during a meeting of national security chiefs from former Soviet states in Astana, Kazakhstan, as reported by Russia’s state news agency, TASS.

The decision stems from the Taliban’s longstanding rivalry with ISIS-Khorasan (ISIS-K), which emerged in eastern Afghanistan in late 2014 and remains one of the most active terrorist factions fighting under the ISIS banner. ISIS-K has declared its aim to establish an Islamic caliphate spanning Central and West Asia.

ISIS-K most recently claimed responsibility for a brutal attack on March 22 at a concert hall in Moscow, where four attackers opened fire and threw hand grenades into the crowd, setting the building on fire and leaving 145 people dead and hundreds more injured. While the Kremlin officially blames Ukraine for the carnage, it has since ramped up efforts to secure Kabul’s cooperation in combating ISIS-K.

“We can see that the Taliban is ready to fight the most dangerous wing of the Islamic State, ISIS-K,” Bortnikov said, accusing the West of providing “material support” to the group for attacks on Russian soil.

“As regards fighting against ISIS-K and other Afghanistan-based Jihadist groups, we find it useful to establish communication with the Talibs.”

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov (R) welcomes Mawlawi Amir Khan Muttaqi (L), Afghanistan's acting foreign minister in the Taliban government, on Oct. 4 in Moscow. Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

In the same vein, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Oct. 4 welcomed his Afghan counterpart, Mawlawi Amir Khan Muttaqi, praising the Taliban’s “resolve to combat the terrorist threat.”

The conflict between ISIS-K and the Taliban continued after the United States withdrew its forces from the country in 2021. Amid the chaotic evacuation that year, a suicide bomber detonated explosives at Kabul International Airport, killing 13 U.S. service members and more than 150 Afghans seeking to flee the country. In April 2023, the White House informed the families of the 11 Marines, the sailor, and the soldier killed in the airport blast that the ISIS-K leader behind the attack had been killed in a raid by the Taliban.

“It is especially important that they are effectively fighting ISIS and its periodic incursions into Afghan territory despite the difficult economic situation,” Lavrov said.

More than two years since the Taliban’s takeover as the United States withdrew from the country, Afghanistan struggles with perpetual famine, with the United Nations saying 23.7 million people—more than half of the country’s population—depend on humanitarian aid to survive.

Although sanctions imposed by the United States and its allies do not prevent aid from reaching Afghanistan, the overall level of aid did decrease as donors reduced their contributions in response to U.S.-led sanctions.

The U.N. and aid groups also find it difficult to send money into the country to help alleviate the crisis, as Afghanistan’s central bank remains cut off from the international banking system and cannot access its assets in foreign accounts. The United States’ and other countries’ central banks, along with the World Bank, do not recognize the credentials of any current Afghan banker.

“We again urge Western countries to recognize their responsibility for the post-conflict reconstruction of Afghanistan, lift sanctions restrictions, and return Kabul’s expropriated assets,” Lavrov said.

As for now, the Biden administration has no plans to return the more than $7 billion in Afghan government funds held in U.S. bank accounts that were frozen on Aug. 15, 2021, the day the Taliban took Kabul, just two weeks before U.S. troops completed their withdrawal from Afghanistan.

In February 2022, President Joe Biden issued an executive order consolidating the frozen assets into a single account, with promises to spend half on victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, and set aside the rest in a trust fund for humanitarian aid in Afghanistan.