Russia Developing a Fully Fledged Partnership With Taliban Leadership

Russia outlawed the Taliban, designating it as a terrorist organization in 2003, but the ban was lifted in April 2025.

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks with Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu at the Collective Security Treaty Organisation summit in Astana, Kazakhstan, on Nov. 28, 2024. Sputnik/Gavriil Grigorov/Kremlin via Reuters

A senior Russian official has said it is establishing a “fully-fledged partnership” with the Afghan Taliban leadership, including political and security contacts.

Russia last year became the first country to formally recognize the Islamist Taliban government that seized power ​in August 2021 as U.S.-led forces withdrew from Afghanistan at the end of the 20-year conflict.