Russia is the first country in the world to recognize Taliban government of Afghanistan

Russia formally recognized the Taliban on Thursday as the government of Afghanistan. No country in the world has taken that step since the takeover of power in 2021. The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs hopes for a ‘productive bilateral cooperation’, it writes in a statement. The Taliban, who have been approaching other countries for some time, cheer the “historical” step and hope that the rest of the world follows Russia’s example.

Thanks to the Russians, the Taliban have come out of their isolation little by little since the past year. At the end of last year, the Russian Supreme Court already scraped the Islamist movement from the terror list, and their leaders were invited to the Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum. After the grip of power in 2021, Russia was one of the few countries that kept its embassy operational in the capital.

For the Kremlin, collaboration with the Taliban is interesting because of their fight against ISIS-KHORASAN, the Afghan branch of IS that last year claimed the attack on a concert hall in Moscow, killing at least 144 people. ISIS-K is a rival of the Taliban and sees Russia as an enemy in Syria because of the war against ISIS. The Taliban are also interested in Russian oil and wheat.

In the 19th century, Afghanistan functioned as a strategic buffer area between the Tsarist Russia and British India. In 1919 the Soviet Union was the first country to enter into diplomatic relationships with Afghanistan. Sixty years later, in 1979, the Soviets invaded Afghanistan to support the communist government of Kabul, and to combat Islamic fundamentalism. The war lasted longer than the Kremlin hoped: until 1989. In that turbulent period, the Taliban was created as a resistance movement.

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