Taliban welcomes Kazakhstan’s removal of its name from list of terrorist organizations

The Kazakh government officially announced that it would remove the Taliban from the country’s list of “terrorist” organizations, which was welcomed by the Taliban government.

On Monday, June 3, Kazakh President Tokayev announced at a meeting with the heads of parliaments of the Collective Security Treaty Organization member states in Almaty, the capital of Kazakhstan, that the name of the Taliban would be removed from the list of terrorist organizations in Kazakhstan.

He added:

“One of the strategic tasks at this stage is the active participation of Afghanistan in regional relations. Taking into account the importance of developing commercial and economic cooperation with modern Afghanistan and recognizing that this regime (Taliban) is a long-term factor, Kazakhstan removes the Taliban from Afghanistan.” The list of “terrorist” groups has been removed.

Kazakhstan was the first country to remove the Taliban from its list of “terrorist” organizations.

The Taliban government welcomed the move.

Hafiz Zia Ahmed, deputy spokesman for the Taliban government’s foreign ministry, said in a video message posted on Twitter:

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan welcomes the decision of Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to remove the name of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan from the list of banned groups in Kazakhstan. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan considers this an important step in removing obstacles to strengthening bilateral relations.”

In March 2005, the Supreme Court of Kazakhstan designated the Taliban as a terrorist organization and banned the Taliban from carrying out activities in the country.

Before Kazakhstan made this decision, Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov said on May 26 that Moscow might remove the Taliban from the list of sanctioned organizations.

Subsequently, Russia’s TASS reported on May 27, citing the Russian President’s Special Representative for Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov as writing that if the Taliban’s name is not removed from the list of terrorist organizations, it would be a bit early to talk about the Taliban government’s recognition.

On May 28, Russian President Vladimir Putin also said that Moscow should consider the Afghan perspective and establish relations with the Taliban, regarding recognizing the Taliban’s legitimacy and removing it from the list of terrorist organizations.

The United States has reacted to Russia’s recent stance on dealing with the Taliban.

Although no country recognizes the Taliban government, Afghanistan’s embassies in several countries in the region have been handed over to the Taliban government, including China and Russia.