The Supreme Court of Russia He announced today that he had upheld the decision to remove the Taliban from the Russian list of terrorist organizations, a symbolic measure aimed at strengthening relations between Moscow and Kabul.

After the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan In the summer of 2021, the country is isolated from the international community.

“The ruling comes into force immediately,” the judge who had been tasked with the case said, reported Russian news agencies following a hearing behind closed doors.

The Supreme Court’s ruling, however, does not equate to the official recognition of the Taliban government by Moscow at this stage.

In March, the Russian Public Prosecutor’s Office requested that the Taliban be removed from the list of organizations that are described as “terrorist” in Russia and have therefore been outlawed. The Taliban has been on the list since 2003, following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

The Taliban occupied the capital of Afghanistan in Kabul on August 15, 2021, after the collapse of the US -backed government, and a few days later the US military was complete.

Since then, the Moscow It has normalized relations with the new Afghan government of the Taliban, which it sees as a potential financial partner and a partner against terrorism.

However, to date, the Taliban government has not been formally recognized by any country, in particular because of the deterioration of the state of women’s rights in Afghanistan.

However, in addition to Russia, Pakistan, China, Iran and most Central Asia countries maintain de facto diplomatic relations with Afghan authorities.

Moscow has received Taliban envoys in Russia in many cases, even before returning to power.

The approach between Kremlin and Kabul appeared to be accelerated after an attack in March 2024 near Moscow, when 145 people were killed in a concert hall by four Islamic State armed states in Horasan, a jihadist offshoot in Afghanistan.

In July 2024, Russian President Vladimir Putin said he considered the Taliban “allies in the fight against terrorism”.

Then, at the end of 2024, he signed a law that allows the Russian authorities to remove an organization from the list of terrorist organizations, which are therefore prohibited in the country.

Last October, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called on the West to lift sanctions against Afghanistan and take responsibility for rebuilding the country, which has been destroyed by decades of war.

Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu visited Kabul at the end of December, a rare visit of a high -ranking foreign official, in which he stated his desire to enhance “cooperation” with Afghanistan.

Many Taliban leaders fought in the ten -year war of the Soviet Union in Afghanistan in the 1980s.