The recommendation was made by the Foreign and Justice Ministries and is a mandatory step for Russia to recognize the Taliban. "All considerations have been reported to the top leadership of Russia. We are waiting for a decision to be made," said Zamir Kabulov, director of the Asian department of the Foreign Ministry, quoted by the Russian agency TASS. According to Kabulov, the recognition of the Taliban government by the Russian Federation is much closer than when the fundamentalists came to power in Afghanistan in 2021. "But there are still some issues that need to be overcome, after which the Russian leadership will make a decision," he noted. The diplomat said that Moscow has no plans to hold any events or exchange congratulatory telegrams with the Taliban government on the occasion of the 105th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Russia and Afghanistan. "For a purely formal reason: lack of official recognition," he told TASS. Kabulov's statements followed those of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who today acknowledged that the Taliban exercise "real power" in Afghanistan. Removing them from the list of terrorist organizations is "an initiative that reflects a coincidence with reality," Lavrov said during a conference on Russian diplomacy in 2023, quoted by the Spanish agency Europa Press. Lavrov said that not even the United Nations Security Council has classified the Taliban as a terrorist organization, but that "between 12 and 15 specific individuals" are on its list. The Taliban, who practice a strict interpretation of Islam, retook Kabul on August 15, 2021, after an offensive that led to the collapse of the administration sponsored by a United Nations force. Founded in the early 1990s, the Sunni nationalist movement had ruled Afghanistan between 1996 and 2001, when it was overthrown by a US-led coalition after the September 11 terrorist attacks that year. This was followed by an occupation of the Asian country by an international force until August 2021, during which the more restrictive rules that the Taliban had applied to women, such as the ban on education, were reversed. Despite promises of change relative to the first government, the restoration of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan has resulted in a reduction in rights, with a special focus on women and girls, and in the international isolation of the country. The then Soviet Union established diplomatic relations with Afghanistan in 1919. The bilateral relationship was affected by the Russian invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, in the context of the Cold War, which triggered a war that lasted 10 years. Read Also: Use of Western weapons against Russia? Kremlin responds to Stoltenberg (Portuguese version)