{"id":69686,"date":"2025-07-04T11:41:16","date_gmt":"2025-07-04T11:41:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/?p=69686"},"modified":"2025-07-04T11:41:16","modified_gmt":"2025-07-04T11:41:16","slug":"russia-becomes-first-country-to-officially-recognize-taliban-government","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/2025\/07\/04\/russia-becomes-first-country-to-officially-recognize-taliban-government\/","title":{"rendered":"Russia Becomes First Country to Officially Recognize Taliban Government"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Adenike Lawal<\/strong><\/p>\n

In a historic diplomatic move, Russia has become the first nation to formally recognize the Taliban-led government in Afghanistan, marking a major shift in international relations.<\/p>\n

The Kremlin confirmed the recognition through its acceptance of the Taliban\u2019s newly appointed ambassador in Moscow, an act widely seen as a full endorsement of the regime that took power in August 2021 following the U.S. withdrawal.<\/p>\n

According to a statement from the Russian Foreign Ministry, the decision aims to deepen bilateral cooperation, particularly in trade, regional security, and counterterrorism.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe formal recognition will spur productive collaboration across multiple sectors,\u201d the ministry said.<\/p>\n

Russia\u2019s recognition follows a steady normalization process that began shortly after the Taliban regained control of Kabul.<\/p>\n

Moscow has since adopted a pragmatic stance, engaging the Taliban as the de facto authority and viewing them as a partner in curbing extremist threats, particularly from ISIS-K.<\/p>\n

In response, Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi described the move as \u201cbrave\u201d and urged other nations to follow Russia\u2019s lead. \u201cThis marks the beginning of a new diplomatic chapter,\u201d Muttaqi said in a video posted online.<\/p>\n

The move also aligns with a ruling by Russia\u2019s Supreme Court in April, which removed the Taliban from its official list of terrorist organizations, a designation that had stood since 2003 due to the group\u2019s alleged ties to militants in the North Caucasus.<\/p>\n

President Vladimir Putin previously hinted at closer ties with the Taliban, referring to them as \u201callies in the fight against terrorism\u201d during a 2024 speech, citing mutual concerns over regional stability.<\/p>\n

In recent years, the Taliban have made several diplomatic inroads in Russia, including participating in annual economic forums in Saint Petersburg and holding high-level meetings with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.<\/p>\n

Although the Taliban remain unrecognized by the United Nations and most global powers, Russia\u2019s decision could mark a turning point in international engagement with Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

Moscow has also expressed interest in using Afghanistan as a transit route for Russian gas exports to Southeast Asia; an economic factor likely influencing its decision.<\/p>\n

Once bitter adversaries, particularly during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s; the evolving ties between Moscow and Kabul reflect how swiftly geopolitical realities can reshape old rivalries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Adenike Lawal In a historic diplomatic move, Russia has become the first nation to formally recognize the Taliban-led government in Afghanistan, marking a major shift in international relations. The Kremlin confirmed the recognition through its acceptance of the Taliban\u2019s newly appointed ambassador in Moscow, an act widely seen as a full endorsement of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":69687,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[172,249],"tags":[59],"class_list":["post-69686","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-world-news","tag-featured"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69686","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69686"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69686\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":69688,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69686\/revisions\/69688"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}