Russia becomes first country to recognize the Taliban government

Russia formally recognized the Taliban government in Afghanistan, becoming the first country to do so since the group seized power amid the chaotic withdrawal of U.S. and NATO forces from Afghanistan four years ago.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement Thursday that it had received the credentials of the Taliban’s ambassador to Moscow, Gul Hassan Hassan, and that its recognition of the Taliban government would enable “productive bilateral cooperation,” including in the fields of trade and counterterrorism.

The Taliban’s Foreign Ministry also confirmed the move on X. The Taliban’s foreign minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, described the recognition as a “significant development,” according to the ministry’s readout.

Photos taken in Moscow after the announcement showed the white Taliban flag, which features the Muslim declaration of faith, or shahada, written in black, flying at the Afghan Embassy in Moscow.

The Taliban ruled Afghanistan from 1996 until the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. During that time, its government was recognized by just three countries: Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

The group swept back into power in 2021, felling the Western-backed government in Kabul. Since then, the Taliban has sought international recognition, though the group remains largely isolated amid widespread concerns over its human rights record and restrictions on women.

The lack of international recognition also means the Taliban has been unable to access Afghan government funds held abroad, including billions of dollars frozen in U.S. institutions.

While some Afghans hoped that the Taliban would be more moderate after returning to power, the group ended education for girls after the sixth grade, banned women from universities and issued strict dress requirements, including for women to cover their faces. Last year, it further expanded the restrictions to include bans on women raising their voices, reciting the Quran in public and looking at men other than their husbands or relatives.

The Taliban emerged from the U.S.-backed guerrilla fighters who fought a Soviet invasion during a devastating nine-year war, which killed an estimated 1 million Afghans and 15,000 Soviet troops, and ended with Moscow’s withdrawal from the country in 1989.

Despite Moscow’s complicated history in Afghanistan, Russia began cultivating ties with the Taliban several years before its return to power and was one of few countries to keep its embassies in Kabul open after the withdrawal of U.S.-led forces in 2021.

In April, Moscow lifted a ban on the Taliban and removed its terrorist status, which it said opened “the way to the establishment of a full-fledged partnership with Kabul in the interests of Russian and Afghan peoples.”

In 2024, Russian President Vladimir Putin described the Taliban as “allies in the fight against terrorism.” That year, a militant attack claimed by the Islamic State in Moscow killed at least 143 people; according to the United States, the attack was carried out by the Islamist militant group’s Afghanistan and Pakistan branch, known as Islamic State-Khorasan or ISIS-K.

Other countries have also fostered closer ties with Afghanistan’s new leaders, though they have stopped short of officially recognizing the group.

Earlier this year, the Taliban and Pakistan agreed to reinstate ambassador-level diplomatic ties, and Afghanistan was invited to join the multibillion-dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor infrastructure project.

Western governments have also recognized the necessity of engaging with the Taliban given its control over Afghanistan but avoided establishing formal diplomatic relations. In 2021, Josep Borrell, the European Union’s top diplomat, said: “The Taliban have won the war, so we will have to talk with them.”