Putin Says Russia Needs to Work With the Taliban

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit via a video link at his residence outside Moscow, Russia, on Sept. 17, 2021. (Sputnik/Alexei Druzhinin/Kremlin via Reuters)

Moscow—Russia needs to work with the ruling Taliban terrorist group in Afghanistan, President Vladimir Putin said on Friday at a meeting of a China- and Russia-led security bloc, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).

Speaking via video link at the conference held in Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan, Putin said Russia supported a United Nations conference on Afghanistan and that world powers should consider unfreezing Afghanistan’s assets.