Russia decides ‘at highest level’ to remove Afghan Taliban from terrorist list

Russia’s foreign ministry said on Friday that a decision to remove the Afghan Taliban from a list of terrorist organisations had been “taken at the highest level”, the state TASS news agency reported.

The decision needs to be followed up with various legal procedures in order to make it a reality, President Vladimir Putin’s special representative on Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov, was quoted as saying.

Putin said in July that Russia considers Afghanistan’s Taliban movement an ally in the fight against terrorism.