Archive July 4, 2025

Russia is the first nation to accept the Taliban government in Afghanistan since the group’s inception in 2021, continuing a period of quieter engagement and a dramatic reversal of ties that existed during the group’s first leadership.

Since the Taliban stormed Kabul in August four years ago, taking over from the government of then-President Ashraf Ghani, several nations – including some that have historically viewed the group as enemies – have reached out to them. No one has officially recognized the Taliban up until Thursday.

What exactly did Russia do, and will Moscow’s decision help other countries establish full-fledged diplomatic relations with the Taliban?

What did Russia say?

Moscow’s recognition of the Taliban government will open the door for bilateral cooperation with Afghanistan, according to a statement from the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan’s official recognition will, in our opinion, give impetus to the development of productive bilateral cooperation, the statement read.

The Foreign Ministry said it would seek cooperation in energy, transport, agriculture and infrastructure.

What was the Taliban’s response?

Russian Ambassador to Kabul Dmitry Zhirnov met Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi and relayed the Kremlin’s decision to recognize the Taliban government in Afghanistan in an X post from Thursday.

The Ambassador of the Russian Federation, Mr. Dmitry Zhirnov, called on IEA-Foreign Minister Mawlawi Amir Khan Muttaqi.

The Ambassador of Russia Federation officially stated the decision of his country to recognize Afghanistan as the Islamic Emirate, pic. twitter.com/wCbJKpZYwm

In a video posted on X, Muttaqi stated, “We value this courageous step taken by Russia, and, God willing, it will serve as an example for others as well.”

What is the Afghan-Russian history?

In 1979, troops from the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan to establish a communist government. With US support, the Afghan mujahideen fighters engaged in a 10-year conflict. In this conflict, about 15 000 Soviet soldiers perished.

In 1992, after rockets launched by rebel groups hit the Russian embassy in Kabul, Moscow closed its diplomatic mission to Afghanistan.

Mohammad Najibullah, a former leader of Russia and a refugee since 1992, was assassinated by the Taliban in 1996, the first time the Taliban have taken control of Kabul.

Russia supported anti-Taliban forces in Afghanistan, including the Northern Alliance led by former mujahideen commander Ahmad Shah Massoud, in the late 1990s.

Then, on September 11, 2001, suicide attackers, affiliated with the armed group al-Qaeda, seized United States passenger planes and crashed into two skyscrapers in New York City, killing nearly 3, 000 people. This led to George W. Bush’s “war on terror” at the time, which he called “war on terror.”

Vladimir Putin, the country’s president, was one of the first foreign leaders to call Bush and offer his condolences and support following the attack. Putin provided the US with assistance to attack Afghanistan. By cooperating with the US, Russia shared intelligence, opened Russian airspace for US flights, and collaborated with Russia’s allies in Central Asia to set up bases and give US airspace access.

Russia designated the Taliban as a terrorist movement in 2003 after the US-led coalition had ousted them from power.

But in recent years, as Russia has increasingly grown concerned about the rise of the ISIS-Khorasan (ISIS-K) group – a regional branch of the ISIS/ISIL armed group – it has warmed to the Taliban. ISIS-K is perceived by the Taliban as a rival and enemy.

Russia’s ties to the Taliban have gotten more sour since the Taliban’s re-emergence in 2021, along with the US’s support for the Ghani government. A Taliban delegation attended Russia’s flagship economic forum in Saint Petersburg in 2022 and 2024.

Russia has only grown closer to the Taliban as the threat grows (the organization claimed a March 2024 attack at a Moscow concert hall in which 149 people were killed by gunmen).

The Taliban were cited as “allies in the fight against terrorism” by Russian President Putin in July 2024. Muttaqi met Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Moscow in October 2024.

Russia removed the Taliban’s designation as a “terrorist” in April 2025. Moscow should pursue a “pragmatic, not ideologised policy” toward the Taliban, according to Lavrov, who stated at the time that “the new authorities in Kabul are a reality.”

How has the rest of the world engaged with the Taliban?

The Taliban are not recognized by the international community. The administration is referred to as the “Taliban de facto authorities” by the UN.

Despite not officially recognising the Taliban as the government of Afghanistan, several countries have recently engaged diplomatically with the group.

China: Beijing was establishing diplomatic relations with the Taliban and hosting its leaders in 2019 for peace talks.

Since the group’s return to power, including through significant investments, relations have increased even further. In 2023, a subsidiary of the state-owned China National Petroleum Company (CNPC) signed a 25-year contract with the Taliban to extract oil from the basin of the Amu Darya river, which spans Central Asian countries and Afghanistan. This was the first significant foreign investment since the Taliban’s annexation.

Beijing recognized former Taliban spokesman Bilal Karim as its official envoy to China in 2024, but it made it clear that it was not acknowledging the Taliban government itself.

And in May this year, China hosted the foreign ministers of Pakistan and the Taliban for a trilateral conclave.

Pakistan: Since 2021, Pakistan’s relations with the Taliban have significantly deteriorated.

Islamabad is now accusing the Taliban government of allowing Pakistan to be attacked by armed groups living on Afghan soil, particularly Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). TTP, also called the Pakistani Taliban, operates on the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan, and is responsible for many of the deadliest attacks in Pakistan in recent years. Pakistan disputes Pakistan’s assertion.

The Pakistani military launched airstrikes in the province of Paktia, which borders South Waziristan, a tribal district in Pakistan, in December 2024. While Pakistan said it had targeted sites where TTP fighters had sought refuge, the Taliban government said that 46 civilians in Afghanistan were killed in the air strikes.

Pakistan increased deportation of Afghan refugees this year, putting strain on ties even more. Pakistan stated its desire to leave the nation three million Afghans earlier this year.

Tensions over armed fighters from Afghanistan in Pakistan continue. The Pakistani military reported on Friday that 30 Afghan border crossing fighters had been killed. According to the Pakistani military, the TTP or its affiliates were the victims’ allies.

Still, Pakistan has tried to manage its complex relationship with Afghanistan. Ishaq Dar, the deputy prime minister and foreign minister of Pakistan, met with Muttaqi and other Afghan officials in Kabul in April of this year. In May, Dar and Muttaqi spoke once more.

India: New Delhi had shut its Kabul embassy in 1996 after the Taliban took over. India objected to the organization’s recognition as a proximate of Pakistan’s intelligence services.

After the Taliban were ousted in 2001, New Delhi reopened its embassy in Kabul. But the embassy and India’s consulates came under repeated attacks in the subsequent years from the Taliban and its allies, including the Haqqani group.

India’s strategy has changed since the Taliban’s return to Kabul and amid rising tensions between the two countries. It reopened its embassy, which had been closed for a while until 2021, and sent diplomats to meet Taliban officials. Then, in January 2025, Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri flew to Dubai for a meeting with Muttaqi.

And their first conversation, which was publicly acknowledged, was when India’s Foreign Minister S Jaishankar phoned Muttaqi in May.

Iran: During the Taliban’s rule in the late 1990s, Iran viewed them with hostility, just like Russia and India. In 1998, Taliban fighters killed Iranian diplomats in Mazar-i-Sharif, further damaging relations.

However, it views ISIS-K as a much bigger threat. Tehran has been negotiating with the Taliban since its return to Kabul, and even earlier behind closed doors.

On May 17, Muttaqi visited Iran to attend the Tehran Dialogue Forum. He also had a meeting with President Massoud Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.

Will other countries eventually recognize the Taliban?

While each country will likely decide when and if to formally recognise the Taliban government, many already work with the group in a capacity that amounts, almost, to recognition.

Afghanistan’s neighbors have little choice but to engage with the Taliban for both strategic and security reasons, according to Kabir Taneja, a deputy director at the New Delhi-based Observer Research Foundation.

The Taliban will be present in Afghanistan for at least some time, according to the majority of people who wouldn’t choose to do so.

Taneja said that other countries which could follow suit after Russia’s recognition of the Taliban include some countries in Central Asia, as well as China.

Taneja argued that Russia’s recognition of the Taliban is a “geopolitical play.”

The New York Times reported on June 16 that Zimbabwe, the country I live in, is one of the potential new additions to his travel ban list, which would likely include as many as 36 other African nations.

A proclamation barring citizens from 12 nations from entering the US had been passed by Trump a day prior. Seven of them are African, including Sudan, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Libya, Somalia, and Chad.

Additionally, he placed some travel restrictions on people from Venezuela, Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Burundi rather than a complete ban. Citizens from these countries are prohibited from permanently relocating to the US or from obtaining tourist or student visas.

Trump is retaliating against immigration, as promised on the campaign trail.

For the first time in my life, I now have to deal with the extraordinary prospect of being denied entry to the US, which many of my friends and family members call home.

For instance, my cousin, Dr. Anna Mhaka, completed her medical studies and only practiced in the US. Former classmate Spencer Matare is a US citizen who has resided in Indianapolis for more than 20 years.

Anna and Spencer are diligent, law-abiding members of US society, just like millions of others, despite the Trump administration’s political grandstanding and denigration of illegal and legal immigrants.

Many people in Africa, I know, are hoping to follow their footsteps, and Trump’s construction of more migration barriers alarms them.

I’m not one of them, though.

I have never felt the need to travel to America, let alone live there, since graduating from the University of Cape Town in 1997.

I am aware that this makes me somewhat peculiar.

I come from a time and place where the West was romanticized through the lens of an Anglicized upbringing. The lasting legacy of French, Portuguese, Spanish, and British colonial rule shaped the desire that I had all across the African continent. It was never my invention.

Afrobarometer released a report based on data from 24 African nations on December 18, 2024, in honor of International Migrants Day. According to the study, 49% of Africans had considered immigrating, with the top destinations North America and Europe, but a significant number preferred relocation within Africa.

Nearly 49 percent of people cited the desire to immigrate because they were looking for better employment opportunities, and 29 percent cited poverty and economic hardship.

I don’t condone the “American dream” or its connotation in Europe, which many Africans still hold. Africans have excelled in business, academia, and sport across the US. A prime example of this is the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) star Dikembe Mutombo, who passed away from NBA fame.

In honor of his mother, who passed away in 1997 after not receiving timely care, Mutombo donated $15 million of his estate to establish the $29 million medical and research center in Kinshasa.

Her tragic, if common, tale reflects the deep-rooted socioeconomic issues that drive migration, including corruption, unemployment, and poverty. The US, in contrast, frequently appears as a refuge.

African-born Black immigrants are among the most recent arrivals, according to a report released in January 2022 by the Pew Research Center on Black immigrants in the US: 43 percent of them arrived between 2010 and 2019.

Africa has contributed a significant portion of recent growth, despite the Caribbean still being the main source region. Between 2000 and 2019, there were 246 more Black African immigrants, or about 600,000 to 2 million. The US’s foreign-born Black population now accounts for 42 percent of the country’s population, up from 23 percent in 2000.

I was deeply disappointed when I first learned about Trump’s proposed visa bans. His infamous “shithole countries” comment from January 11, 2018, another instance of racial profiling directed at Africans, was unavoidable.

However, after examining his divisive, closed-off policies, I have come to see them differently.

He frozen US aid to Africa on January 20.

He is currently close to denying many of us visas, including those for Cameroon and the Ivory Coast.

Unintentionally, Trump is urging African countries to increase their independence and to confront the restless populations’ unmet needs.

He is not the only one who practices “anti-African” politics.

The political spectrum in the US has become more anti-immigration rhetoric. Even getting a student visa has become more difficult for Africans. The highest US visa refusal rates were 57 percent on average in sub-Saharan Africa in 2023. The rate increases across other regions to 61 percent, with the exception of Southern Africa, where rejection is currently at about 19%.

I’m not affected by these declining approvals because I don’t want to travel or settle in the United States.

A deep-seated fear that the world will become yet another victim of American police brutality, as the world saw with the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25, 2020, drives my reluctance to travel to the so-called “land of the free.” Regardless of their immigration status, I am aware that Black people, whether African or not, are far too frequently subject to racism, violence, and discrimination in the US.

However, I don’t want to be a victim of racist police brutality. An African should never consider settling there for many more reasons.

Africans across the continent share the same, deep-rooted issues that many Americans experience. According to the West Health-Gallup healthcare indices, roughly 29 million Americans struggle to access affordable healthcare, which is a problem that is as well known in Kinshasa as it is in many other parts of the country. According to the US Census Bureau, 36.8 million Americans were in poverty by 2023.

Hollywood’s film industry’s lofty image aside, the United States is not utopia.

Although Anna and Spencer have succeeded in that area, the majority of Africans do not have a path to the “American dream.” They must seek their futures in their own countries or elsewhere in Africa.

It requires a significant change.

China, after all, underwent extensive economic reforms in 40 years.

Similar changes are possible in Africa thanks to its vast mineral wealth and young, educated population. Industrial growth, job creation, and a higher gross domestic product could be attributed to a focus on domestic processing of raw materials.

However, good governance and peace must always come first. And we must alter our investment priorities. African governments should concentrate on artificial intelligence, healthcare, and scientific research rather than investing in defense and security.

We as Africans must stop defining ourselves through Western encouragement, validation, or instruction.

I’ll stay in the motherland whatever comes.

Keep your America, Mr. Trump, and keep your Africa.