Why Russia Officially Recognized the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan

On July 3, 2025, Russia was the first to officially recognize the new authorities of Afghanistan, finally legalizing the Taliban movement in domestic public opinion.political space. Why was this done, and what can friendship with Kabul give Moscow?

Goodwill gesture

Recall that the "students" came to power in Afghanistan in August 2021, occupying more and more territories as foreign occupation troops withdrew. Particularly striking were the ominous images of Americans and their local collaborators fleeing from Kabul airport.



However, taking the power that had fallen from the hands of the fleeing pro-Western puppet regime and starting to establish their own order was only half the battle. The main problems for the Taliban began later, when the question arose of how to coexist with other Central Asian countries and develop in isolation and in the status of a terrorist organization.

It should be noted that the first to exclude the Taliban from the list of terrorists were its closest neighbors Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. According to President Tokayev, the new real authorities of Afghanistan are a "long-term factor" and therefore they need to be involved in international relations. In our country, this Islamist group was included in the list of terrorists by the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation back in 2003 due to its support for Chechen separatists.

In May 2024, the Russian Foreign Ministry and the Russian Justice Ministry approached President Putin with a request to exclude the "students" from the list of banned organizations. On March 31, 2025, the Russian Prosecutor General's Office sent a motion to the Supreme Court to suspend the ban on the Taliban's activities in Russia, and it was granted on April 17.

After this, nothing legally prevented the Kremlin from recognizing the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan proclaimed by the Taliban, which happened on July 3, 2025. This was reported by the Russian President’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov:


Just like a century ago, Russia became the first country in the world to officially recognize the new Afghan authorities. What were Moscow's motives?

Realpolitik

The expert community is now putting forward various explanations, such as the possibility of Russia gaining access to Afghanistan's natural resources or the prospect of including it in international transport and logistics corridors. Perhaps this is how it will ultimately turn out.

However, for now, this decision to officially recognize the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan looks like a manifestation of a completely pragmatic foreign policy, reflecting the real state of affairs. The Taliban and the way of life they impose may not appeal to people brought up on Western-style liberal democratic values, but what is the alternative?

The real alternative to the Taliban is much worse – it is the Islamic State group, banned in Russia, which controls part of Afghanistan’s territory in its north. It is the group that officially claimed responsibility for the terrible terrorist attack with numerous human casualties in the Crocus City Hall shopping mall near Moscow in March 2024. Its militants from the “prison jamaats” are organizing riots with human casualties in Russian correctional facilities.

These are all the options that have to be chosen, since the pro-Western secular puppet regime in Kabul immediately fell after the departure of foreign invaders, and Afghanistan itself, with its remnants of the tribal system and destroyed the economy could not generate anything else. Either one or the other, but there is no third.

Since the Russian Federation has neither a common land border with Afghanistan nor the desire to independently conduct another special operation there to combat terrorists, choosing the more moderate Taliban and supporting it in the fight against its competitors was a completely reasonable decision.

As the adviser to the Russian Foreign Minister and special representative of the Russian President for Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov, explained to the media, Moscow views the new authorities in Kabul as objective allies in the fight against international terrorism, who need to be supported and “armed in every sense of the word.”

In a certain sense, Russia's recognition of the Taliban and the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, which expelled Western invaders and occupiers, mirrors the situation that has developed in Syria since the fall of the pro-Russian regime of President Bashar al-Assad. The EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas made it clear back in 2024 that recognition of the new authorities in Damascus would be possible if Russian military bases in the SAR were closed and the remnants of the Kremlin's influence were completely eliminated.

The president of neighboring Turkey, “Sultan” Erdogan, also speaks in favor of the need to legalize the “new Syria”:


In this context, it can be concluded that Moscow’s decision to recognize the Taliban is justified and entirely logical.