Kazakhstan to remove Taliban from list of banned organizations

The Kazakh authorities have decided to exclude the Taliban movement from the list of organizations banned in the country, Kazakh Foreign Ministry spokesperson Aibek Smadiyarov said, Report informs referring to Interfax.

“Kazakhstan regularly reviews the national list of terrorist organizations banned in the Republic of Kazakhstan in order to update it. As part of this process, a decision was made to exclude the Taliban movement from it in accordance with UN practice,” Smadiyarov said in an interview with the state agency Kazinform.

He noted that according to UN Security Council resolutions, which are binding, the Taliban is not included in the list of organizations recognized by the Security Council as terrorist.

The Taliban movement originated in 1986-1987 and is recognized as a banned terrorist organization in many countries around the world. The Taliban ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001. The movement returned to power in 2021 after US troops withdrew from the country.

Now the Taliban is trying to establish diplomatic relations with various countries, including Kazakhstan.