Russia was the first in the world to recognize the Taliban government in Afghanistan

Four years after seizing power in Afghanistan, the first country in the world has recognized the Taliban’s authority in the country.

As reported by Russia’s special representative for Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov, Russia has officially recognized the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.

On June 3, Russia’s Ambassador to Kabul, Dmitry Zhirnov, also stated that Putin decided to recognize the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan at the suggestion of Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. According to the diplomat, this decision “demonstrates Russia’s sincere desire to establish a full-fledged partnership with Afghanistan.”

The head of Afghanistan’s Foreign Ministry, Amir Khan Muttaqi, and Ambassador Dmitry Zhirnov discussed the relations between the two countries, the Afghan Foreign Ministry’s press service reported.

TASS reports that the newly appointed Afghan ambassador to Russia, Gul Hasan, has already presented copies of his credentials to the deputy head of Russia’s Foreign Ministry.

A Taliban representative in Qatar, Muhammad Suhail Shaheen, stated that following Russia’s decision, even more countries will officially recognize their government.

However, representatives of the ousted Afghan government and leaders of opposition groups to the Taliban expressed concern over this initiative by Russia. They stated that normalizing relations with the Taliban, which was previously considered a terrorist organization, could lead to increased instability in the world.

Nevertheless, some analysts believe that since the U.S. officially recognized the government of Syria and, in particular, its leader Ahmad al-Sharaa, and also removed its movement from the list of “terrorist organizations,” Russia made a similar decision regarding the Taliban as a retaliatory measure.