On Thursday, July 3rd, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that it had accepted the credentials of the new Afghan ambassador, officially recognizing the Taliban government in Afghanistan. This makes Russia the first country to recognize the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.
In a statement, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, “We believe that the formal recognition of the Afghan government will promote productive bilateral cooperation in various fields between our two countries.”
Earlier on Thursday, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia, Andrey Rudenko, accepted the credentials of the new Afghan Ambassador to Russia, Gul Hassan. The ambassador arrived in Moscow on July 1st.
On April 17th, the Russian Supreme Court approved the Prosecutor General’s request to lift the ban on Taliban activities in Russia. The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that the Taliban has been removed from the list of terrorist organizations.
Public records show that the Taliban organization emerged in 1994 and captured the Afghan capital Kabul in 1996, establishing their rule. In 1997, they changed the country’s name to the “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan”.
After the 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States on 9/11, where the Taliban harbored the mastermind, Osama bin Laden, the US took military action against them, leading to the rapid collapse of the Taliban regime.
However, since the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan in 2021, the Taliban violated agreements with the US and swiftly seized control of Afghanistan once again. Subsequently, there were talks of formal recognition of the Taliban regime by the Chinese authorities, but there were doubts about the relationship between the two parties.
China refers to the East Turkistan independence movement as the Xinjiang independence movement, also known as “Xinjiang independence,” and views East Turkistan organizations as a major threat. The relationship between the Taliban and East Turkistan is complex, as they have collaborated in the past.
Recently, the Taliban government unilaterally terminated a 25-year oil extraction agreement signed with a Chinese state-owned enterprise in 2023. The reason cited was China’s failure to fulfill obligations such as investment, drilling, local employment, and social responsibilities. This move has seemingly led to a sharp deterioration in the relationship between the two sides.