Nebenzia: ‘Taliban’ Should Not Be Ignored as Afghanistan’s Current Rulers

Vasily Nebenzia said: “Taliban are de facto authorities in Afghanistan, and we’ve been saying consistently that you have to recognize this fact and deal with them as such. Because whether you like it or not, this movement is running the country now. And you cannot simply ignore that and on how far we are from removing them from the sanctions list on which they are now with Russia. I cannot tell you a definite answer. But I heard some talk about it. But generally speaking, it is good that the Taliban was finally invited to Doha this time.”

On the other hand, the US State Department said that the reason for banking sanctions on Afghanistan is the lack of adherence to human rights by the ruling officials in Afghanistan.

Vedant Patel, Deputy Spokesperson for the US State Department, added: “I can say that Tom made clear that the primary reason private banks have reservations about doing more business in Afghanistan is reputational, and that it is rooted in the Taliban’s atrocious human rights conduct. We know that the Taliban often complains about sanctions, but given the broad general license issued by the Treasury Department, relief organizations as well as businesses have the leeway they need to support the Afghan people.”

However, Hamdullah Fitrat, Deputy Spokesperson for the Islamic Emirate, welcomed the remarks of Russia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations about Afghanistan and called Moscow’s move to remove the names of Islamic Emirate officials from the blacklist a positive step.

The Deputy Spokesperson for the Islamic Emirate said, “It is the right of the Afghan people that the names of the officials of the interim government be removed from the blacklist, and all sanctions imposed on Afghanistan should end.”

Previously, the Russian Ministries of Justice and Foreign Affairs had reported to President Vladimir Putin about the possibility of removing the Taliban from the list of terrorist groups.