MOSCOW (AP) — Russia’s Supreme Court on Thursday lifted a ban on Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban, a group that was designated as a terrorist organization more than two decades ago.
The Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021 as U.S. and NATO troops were in the final weeks of withdrawing from the country after two decades of war.
The Russian court's move was a diplomatic victory for the Taliban, who were put on Moscow’s list of terrorist organizations in 2003, making any contact with them punishable under Russian law.
At the same time, Taliban delegations have attended various forums hosted by Russia as Moscow has sought to position itself as a regional power broker.
The court’s ruling on a request by the Prosecutor General’s Office followed last year’s adoption of a law stipulating that the official designation as a terrorist organization could be suspended by a court.
The former Soviet Union fought a 10-year war in Afghanistan that ended with Moscow withdrawing its troops in 1989.
Russian officials have recently been emphasizing the need to engage with the Taliban to help stabilize Afghanistan.
In recent years, the Central Asian nations of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan have removed the Taliban from their lists of terrorist groups.
The Taliban initially promised a more moderate rule than during their first stint in power from 1996 to 2001, but started to enforce restrictions on women and girls soon after the 2021 takeover. Women are barred from most jobs and public places, including parks, baths and gyms, while girls are banned from education beyond sixth grade.
Such measures have isolated the Taliban on the world stage, although their government has established diplomatic ties with countries including China and the United Arab Emirates.
The U.N. this year renewed its call for the Taliban to lift the bans.
The group’s decrees limiting the participation of girls and women have affected foreign aid to the country. The Taliban also have brought back their strict interpretation of Islamic law, or Shariah, including public executions.
Some Taliban want greater engagement with the international community and want to scrap harsher policies to attract more outside support. In recent months, there has been increased engagement between the Taliban and the U.S. under President Donald Trump, mostly because of prisoner exchanges and releases.
Ibraheem Bahiss, a senior analyst with Crisis Group’s Asia Program, said the Taliban’s listing as a terrorist group was a legal impairment for trade and political ties with Kabul and its lifting reflected Moscow‘s desire to improved relations.
“However, beyond making it easier for individuals and businesses to engage with Afghanistan. I am not sure what other major benefit this will have,” he said.
South Asia analyst Michael Kugelman said the Russian move was not ground-breaking because many countries had never formally designated the Taliban as a terrorist organization. At the same time, he called the decision a “win-win” for bilateral relations.
For Russia, he said it would serve as a confidence-building measure helping pave the way for more engagement and enabling Moscow to better protect its interests in Afghanistan, particularly concerns about anti-Russia terror groups like Islamic State-Khorasan.
“Meanwhile, for the Taliban, the court decision is a legitimacy-boosting outcome they can leverage to point to international acceptance of their rule,” Kugelman observed.
Associated Press writer Riazat Butt contributed to this report from Islamabad.
Russia's Supreme Court judge Oleg Nefyodov delivers a verdict lifting a ban on Afghanistan's Taliban, who were designated as a terrorist group more than two decades ago, in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, April 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Dmitry Serebryakov)
Russia's Supreme Court judge Oleg Nefyodov delivers a verdict lifting a ban on Afghanistan's Taliban, who were designated as a terrorist group more than two decades ago, in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, April 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Dmitry Serebryakov)
Russia's Supreme Court judge Oleg Nefyodov delivers a verdict lifting a ban on Afghanistan's Taliban, who were designated as a terrorist group more than two decades ago, in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, April 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Dmitry Serebryakov)
FILE -An Afghan street barber man, left, trims the mustache of a customer, as snow is seen the back ground in Kabul, Afghanistan, Feb. 9, 2012. (AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq, File)
President Donald Trump was heading to Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, the first leg of his three-nation visit to the Middle East this week meant to tackle multiple crises and conflicts across the region.
His first stop is a visit to Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The two are to hold talks on U.S. efforts to dismantle Iran’s nuclear program, end the war in Gaza, hold down oil prices and more.
The crown prince is also expected to fete Trump with a formal dinner and a gathering of members of the Gulf Cooperation Council — made up of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — later on Tuesday.
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U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Tuesday that America and China now have a “mechanism” to avoid tensions.
He spoke at an investment forum just before Trump was to land in Saudi Arabia.
“We had a plan, we had a process. What we did not have with the Chinese was a mechanism,” Bessent told the forum. “After this weekend, we have a mechanism to avoid escalation like we had before.”
Bessent said America could have a “big, beautiful rebalancing” with China as Beijing aims to have more of a consumption-based economy and Trump wants to see more precision manufacturing done in the U.S.
Previous trips by U.S. presidents to the kingdom have drawn comments about Saudi Arabia being “milked” by the Americans for oil and dollars for military sales.
But this time, Iranian newspapers and state television largely are not discussing Trump’s trip in detail.
The quiet may be due to the fact Riyadh and Tehran have been in a Chinese-mediated detente since 2023. Saudi Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman, a brother to the Saudi crown prince, also traveled to Tehran in a high-level visit unthinkable in recent years of tensions between the two Mideast rivals.
Hussein Ibish, an analyst at the Washington-based Arab Gulf States Institute, said Saudi Arabia’s economic development projects at home means the kingdom wants peace across the region.
American and Saudi flags are lining the streets in Saudi Arabia’s capital ahead of Trump's arrival, along with a noticeable security presence in Riyadh of all American-made police cars.
At a “Media Oasis” set up for journalists, giant video screens showed off Saudi construction projects like its futuristic NEOM city and its hosting of the 2034 FIFA World Cup. A mobile McDonald’s sat in the parking lot, still shuttered.
Prince Turki al-Faisal, who led Saudi intelligence for more than two decades and served as ambassador to the U.S. and Britain, wrote in the English-language Arab News newspaper to Trump that “our doors and hearts are open to you.”
Saudi Arabia’s tightly controlled media offered positive comments regarding Trump’s visit. Columnists in the kingdom sought to describe the visit as part of a strategic reset in American-Saudi relations, which date back to when then-President Franklin Roosevelt met King Saud aboard the USS Quincy in 1945.
“Many countries around the world, including in Europe, are following Saudi Arabia’s lead in managing their affairs with Trump,” wrote Abdulrahman al-Rashed in Asharq Al-Awsat. “The era of relying solely on political and military alliances with Washington is over; the focus now is on forging shared interests.”
Faisal J. Abbas of the English-language Arab News wrote that “the significance of the visit cannot be overstated — nor could its timing be more crucia,” given Saudi Arabia’s mediation in the Russia-Ukraine war and the recent conflict between India and Pakistan.
He also acknowledged business deals would be part of the trip as well.
“Putting America first does not mean ignoring opportunities abroad; it means seizing them,” Abbas added.
Trump’s trip to Saudi Arabia comes as the president can already point to one thing for American voters — oil prices are down.
It’s not Trump’s doing, though he’s repeatedly criticized Saudi Arabia and the OPEC+ oil cartel over higher oil prices in the past. Those prices translate directly back into gasoline prices in the United States, which can become a major pain point for the U.S. public. The average price for a gallon of gasoline in the U.S. is $3.13, according to AAA, down from $3.61 a year ago.
Right now, benchmark Brent crude trades around $64 a barrel. That’s higher than when the around $50 a barrel it traded on his first trip to the kingdom as president in 2017. However, it’s nowhere near the spikes seen after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Then, the average gallon of gas in the U.S. was $5.01 at its height.
Economic uncertainty over Trump’s tariff policy has depressed global energy prices — as has OPEC more rapidly opening up production than initially thought. Saudi Arabia in particular needs that extra revenue as the crow prince's expansive development plans and the kingdom hosting the upcoming 2034 FIFA World Cup will need hundreds of billions of dollars of investments.
The Syrian Foreign Ministry says the sanctions on the country were imposed under the government of ousted Syrian President Bashar Assad and helped in removing him from power.
But they are now harming the Syrian people, the ministry says, describing Trump’s comments about removing them as “an encouraging step” to end the suffering of Syrians.
The ministry said in a statement late Monday that the sanctions are hindering reconstruction in the war torn country.
The Syrian people are looking for the “full lifting of the sanctions” as a step that boosts peace and prosperity both in Syria and the region, and open the way for international cooperation, it said.
Trump had intended to focus on pressing wealthy Gulf Arab nations during the Mideast trip to pour billions in new investment into the United States.
But Trump finds himself navigating a series of geopolitical crises — and searching for glimmers of hope in the deep well of global turmoil.
Those challenges are casting greater import on his first extended overseas trip of his second term, but the president is brimming with an overabundance of confidence about some of the world’s most intractable problems.
▶ Read more about Trump’s three-nation visit
FILE - President Donald Trump speaks with reporters as he signs executive orders in the Oval Office at the White House, Feb. 10, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, file)
