Russian President Vladimir Putin gestures as he speaks to the media after the Shanghai Cooperation Group (SCO) summit in Astana, Kazakhstan, Thursday, July 4, 2024. | Picture credit score: AP
Russian President Vladimir Putin stated Thursday that the Taliban, a gaggle banned in Russia, are “allies” of Moscow within the struggle towards terrorism as a result of they management Afghanistan.
Moscow has for years fostered relations with the Taliban, regardless of it being a banned organisation in Russia since 2003, and final month Putin referred to as on Moscow to “set up” relations with the Taliban authorities.
“We should assume that the Taliban management energy within the nation. And on this respect, the Taliban are, after all, our allies within the struggle towards terrorism, as a result of any authority is within the stability of the state it governs,” Putin stated in Astana.
The Taliban have been combating their rival jihadist group, the Islamic State of Khorasan (IS-Ok), in Afghanistan for years.
In March, IS-Ok fighters killed greater than 140 folks in an assault on a Moscow live performance corridor, the deadliest terrorist assault in Russia in practically 20 years.
Since taking management of Afghanistan in 2021, the Taliban have enforced an excessive type of Islamic regulation that successfully bans ladies from taking part in public life.
Putin stated the Taliban had “assumed some accountability” however there have been nonetheless “points that require fixed consideration throughout the nation and by the worldwide neighborhood.”
“I am certain the Taliban are focused on retaining issues steady in Afghanistan,” he added.
Moscow has improved relations with Afghanistan, with which it has a troubled historical past following the Soviet invasion within the Nineteen Eighties, for the reason that US exited the nation.
But it surely has stopped in need of formally recognising the Taliban authorities or what it calls the “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan”.