Putin says Russia is mulling excluding Taliban from list of extremist groups

Members of the Taliban delegation, including its head Abdul Salam Hanafi, Afghan acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi and representative of the Taliban political office Anas Haqqani, attend a media briefing following international talks on Afghanistan in Moscow, Russia, October 20, 2021. REUTERS/Maria Tsvetkova

Russia is moving towards excluding the Taliban from its list of extremist organisations, President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday, a day after high-level talks between Moscow and Afghanistan's new rulers.

Russia labelled the Taliban a "terrorist organisation" in 2003 but welcomed the Taliban for talks in Moscow several times before it seized power in Afghanistan in August.

Earlier this week, Russia called for the mobilisation of international aid to support Afghanistan, as Moscow hosted the Taliban for an international conference.

(Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin and Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber; Writing by Andrey Ostroukh; Editing by Andrew Osborn)