On August 15, representatives of the armed movement “Taliban” (banned in Russia) seized power and established control over the capital of Afghanistan, Kabul. President Ashraf Ghani left the country a few hours later, and later recognized the new government.
Hundreds of thousands of people took refuge at the airport, trying to get out of the country captured by extremists. The Kabul airport was not under the control of the Taliban at that time and remained the only way of evacuation from the country.
People ran out onto the tarmac, clung to the landing gear of the plane and fell from a great height, trying to grab the last opportunity to get to freedom.
The security of the airport was provided by NATO military personnel. Britain and the United States sent armed forces to protect the airport and help evacuate their citizens.
“We always hoped that there would be peace when there would be no wars and murders”
On the afternoon of August 16, the Taliban controlling Kabul began collecting weapons from the civilian population, explaining that their people “are no longer in danger.” Soon, the Taliban announced plans to resurrect the “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan”.
It was a partially recognized State under the control of the Taliban between 1996 and 2001.
Representatives of the Taliban announced that they do not want a war in Kabul and guarantee the safety of all officials and surrendered military personnel.
Representatives of the movement also promised that women will be able to work only if they wear Islamic clothing.
And, of course, the Taliban has repeatedly promised that there will be no threat to neighboring states, including Russia, from the territory of Afghanistan.
The escaped Afghans were provided with food and temporary accommodation in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and some European countries.
Russia considers terrorists* “sane people”
While the countries of Europe and the United States are evacuating their embassies from Afghanistan and accepting refugees, the Russian authorities assess the impressions of the seizure of the Russian embassy in Afghanistan as “good”, and the Taliban are “normal guys”.
“We see encouraging signals from the Taliban, who declare their desire to have a government with the participation of other political forces, their readiness to continue the processes, including those related to education for girls, and, in general, with the functioning of the state machine, without closing the way for those officials who worked under the previous government of President Ashraf Ghani,” — Sergey Lavrov said.
But despite the “positive” statements in the direction of the Taliban, Russia is not yet in a hurry to recognize them as a legitimate authority. The exclusion of the movement from the list of terrorist organizations will be possible only after the relevant UN resolution, according to the special representative of the Russian Federation in Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov.
A representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry explained on August 15 that the Russian embassy is not being evacuated yet, since the situation remains safe for Russian diplomats.
On August 18, Russian Ambassador to Afghanistan Dmitry Zhirnov said that the Taliban had guaranteed the security of Russian diplomacy and assured him of their friendly approach to Russia.
“We have good relations with Russia and long-standing contacts. Meetings have been held in Moscow on several occasions. We appreciate Russia’s neutral position towards Afghanistan, Russia does not interfere in internal affairs,” — Mohammad Naim told RT Arabic.
Russia is not yet ready to grant asylum to all refugees from Afghanistan, but it is ready to consider the possibility of accepting those who have Russian citizenship, family or friends here. There may be more than 10 thousand such people, but the president has not commented on this situation yet.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in his statement called on the Taliban to observe maximum restraint, as well as international humanitarian law and the freedom of the population.
Former US President Donald Trump said that Joe Biden’s actions in Afghanistan “will go down in history as one of America’s greatest defeats.”
Recall that in February 2020, the United States and representatives of the Taliban signed a peace agreement, thereby ending the long war. The treaty provides for the complete withdrawal of US and NATO troops from Afghanistan within 14 months, so in the spring of 2021, Biden announced the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan, who had been there since 2001.
With the departure of the American army, the Taliban became more active in Afghanistan and soon seized the presidential palace.
*The Taliban movement is extremist in nature and is considered a banned organization on the territory of the Russian Federation
