UNITED NATIONS: Russian envoy to the UN Vasily Nebenzya suggested on Monday that Moscow was considering dropping sanctions against the Taliban as the Afghan authorities met with representatives of the international community in Doha.

“(The Taliban) are the de facto authorities. (They) are not going to stop, and we’ve been saying consistently that you have to recognise this fact and deal with them as such because, whether you like it or not, this movement is running the country now. You cannot simply ignore that,” he said.

“On how far we are from removing them from the sanctions list on which they are now with Russia, I cannot tell you the definite answer, but I heard some talks about it,” Nebenzya said without giving further details.

The Taliban government in Kabul has not been officially recognised by any other government since it took power in 2021.

Russia like many countries, including the United States as well as the European Union, maintains sanctions on the Taliban, designating it a terrorist group.

Russia has not recognised the Taliban as the legal government of Afghanistan, but it kept open its embassy in Kabul throughout the group’s takeover up to the present day.

The group has imposed a strict system with women subjected to laws characterised by the UN as “gender apartheid”.

Nebenzya was speaking on Monday as Russia takes the rotating presidency of the UN Security Council for the month of July, unveiling an agenda for the body that omitted Ukraine. The Security Council is badly divided with Russia at loggerheads with Washington and its allies Britain and France over the war in Ukraine as well as the Gaza conflict.

Published in Dawn, July 2nd, 2024