LONDON, April 5. /TASS/. The Taliban (outlawed in Russia), which is currently in power in Afghanistan, is happy that Russia is thinking about removing it from the list of terrorist organizations, the movement’s Spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told The Times newspaper.
"Removing the name of the Emirate of Islamia (the name of Afghanistan used by the Taliban - TASS) from the blacklist is a good move from Russia and we welcome this action," Mujahid said. "We want diplomatic relations with all countries and co-operation in the economic sector. In terms of investment, Moscow’s move will provide opportunities for every country to come [to Afghanistan] and invest here."
The Taliban spokesman pointed out that the movement "want to establish balanced relations with all countries and our relations with all will be based on economic interests."
On April 1, the Russian Foreign Ministry told TASS that the country was considering removing the Taliban from the list of terrorist organizations and that a final decision would be made by the Russian leadership. When asked to comment on the ministry’s statement, Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the Kremlin will make its stance public after the issue is finalized.
Earlier, Russia’s special presidential representative for Afghanistan and Director of the Foreign Ministry’s Second Asia Department, Zamir Kabulov, told TASS that a delegation of the Taliban movement had been invited to attend the ‘Russia-Islamic World: KazanForum’ economic forum, which Kazan is expected to host on May 14-19.