By Tahir Khan
ISLAMABAD: The Taliban government in Afghanistan announced late Thursday that Russia has decided to recognize the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, Taliban officials said.
Russia has become the first country to accord recognition to the Taliban government.
Taliban had taken control of Kabul in Aug. 2021 after the collapse of the US-backed Ashraf Ghani government. No country has recognized the Taliban government since then.
Russian ambassador in Kabul Dmitriy A. Zhirnov met Afghanistan’s acting Foreign Minister Maulvi Amir Khan Muttaqi and conveyed his government’s decision, the Afghan Foreign Ministry’s spokesman Hafiz Zia Takal said.
“In this meeting, the Russian Ambassador officially announced the decision of the Russian government based on which the Russian Federation recognizes the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,” the spokesman said in a statement posted online.
The Russian embassy in Kabul has not issued any statement about the announcement by the Afghan officials.
“The Ambassador highlighted the importance of this decision and called it a historic step towards strengthening relations between Afghanistan and Russia,” according to the Afghan Foreign Ministry’s spokesman.
He said Afghan Foreign Minister Muttaqi welcomed this decision and called it a “new stage of positive relations, mutual respect, and constructive interaction between the two countries.”
Muttaqi added that “this realistic decision by the Russian Federation will be remembered as a significant milestone in the history of relations between the two countries and sets a good example for other countries to take similar actions.”
The Foreign Minister further said that this move will further expand bilateral cooperation between the two countries, according to the spokesman.
In October last year, Russia’s foreign ministry announced a decision to remove the Afghan Taliban from a list of terrorist organisations.
President Vladimir Putin’s special representative on Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov said this week that Russia has included the Taliban government in the Moscow Format Consultation process that was launched in 2018.
Russia had invited Taliban political envoys to the first meeting of Moscow Consultations, which provided an opportunity to the Taliban negotiators to interact with officials of 11 countries.
The decision came days after Russian, Pakistani and Chinese special envoys met in Doha, Qatar, to discuss matters related to Afghanistan, according to Pakistani special envoy Mohammad Sadiq.
Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirate had recognized the Taliban first government 1996-2001.
Pakistani officials insist Islamabad will take a decision in consultations with friendly countries.
Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar announced in May that Pakistan has decided to upgrade diplomatic representation in Kabul to the level of ambassador.
China has already accepted the Taliban ambassador.