Kazakhstan removes Taliban from banned organisations list

The Kazakh government has removed the Afghan Taliban movement from its list of banned organisations, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Friday.

Aibek Smadiyarov said the decision was “in line with UN practices”.

“According to the UN Security Council resolutions, which [all the members] are obliged to follow, the Taliban movement is not on the list of organisations that the UN Security Council deems terrorist,” Smadiyarov told reporters.

He said that in its further contacts with Afghanistan’s Taliban government, Kazakhstan would be also acting in line with UN resolutions.

The Kazakh government earlier said it intended to expand trade with Afghanistan. This year, Kazakh-Afghan trade amounted to 1bn dollars.

In August Kazakhstan hosted a Kazakh-Afghan business forum, at which the sides signed deals worth 200m dollars.

Following the United States’ withdrawal from Afghanistan and the return to power of the Taliban movement in 2021, the West has distanced itself from the Afghan issue.

In a statement in November, the UK-based Afghan Institute for Strategic Studies (AISS) said that the situation in Afghanistan “continues to deteriorate steadily”, both economically and in terms of individual freedoms.

For security and economic reasons, the Central Asian nations need peace and stability in neighbouring Afghanistan, and therefore have to engage with the Taliban.

Afghan territory can be used for developing new trade and energy export routes out and across Central Asia that would give the region alternative access to the sea.

Engagement with the Taliban government is also needed to find a solution to the continued presence in Afghanistan of various terrorist organisations, such as Al Qaida, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and Ansarullah.

Uzbekistan’s government has chosen a policy of engagement with the Taliban since its return to power. Uzbek-Afghan trade has been steadily increasing recently. The sides are also planning joint railway and electric power projects.

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