Kazakhstan Removed “Taliban” From the List of Terrorist Groups

Kazakhstan, as the first country in Central Asia, removed the “Taliban” group, which currently rules Afghanistan and formed the current caretaker government, from the list of terrorist groups.
The president of this country, Qasim Jumart Toghayev, announced this news at the meeting of the presidents of the parliaments of the member countries of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, which was held in the city of Almaty.
The president of Kazakhstan has stated the purpose of doing this: “Considering the importance of the development of trade and economic cooperation with Afghanistan and the possibility of this group remaining in the long term, Kazakhstan has removed it from the list of terrorist groups.”
Mr. Jomart has also emphasized that Afghanistan’s active participation in regional relations is an important and strategic thing that must be done.
At the same time, even though Kazakhstan has had interactions and economic and commercial relations with the caretaker government of Afghanistan in the past and by taking another step, it has also announced the removal of “Taliban” from the list of terrorist groups, but the situation in the region and the case of Central Asia is not the same and there have been different positions on this issue.
Russia has also previously announced its readiness to remove the caretaker government of Afghanistan from the list of terrorist groups and said that it will negotiate with its partners in Central Asia and take joint decisions. This shows that the influence of Russian policies in the region still exists and Kazakhstan’s actions may also be affected by this.
However, countries such as Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan have not officially said anything in this regard. Although Rostam Imam Ali, Head of the Tajik Parliament, said in the same meeting that the activity of more than 3,000 religious schools in Afghanistan increases the risk of transferring “destructive ideology” from this country to Central Asian countries. He has also warned that Afghanistan has once again become a ground of terrorism and dozens of terrorist groups are strengthening their position in the country.
Although the countries of Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and even Russia still have “Taliban” in their list of banned groups, but Russia has always emphasized on interaction and relation with Afghanistan. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said in the past that the caretaker government of Afghanistan controls the territory of this country and they are the current rulers of Afghanistan, so the reality should be considered and relations should be established. This stance was welcomed by the caretaker government of Afghanistan.
Let’s see what changes Kazakhstan’s recent action will bring about in the politics of regional countries and the world, and how future interactions with Afghanistan will take place.