On July 3, Russia became the first country to officially recognize the Taliban as the government of Afghanistan. President Vladimir Putin announced via the state newswire TASS that the Russian Federation would begin using the name “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan” for the country and would elevate the Afghan charge d’affaires in Russia to the status of ambassador. That same afternoon, staff at the Afghan Embassy in Moscow lowered the tricolor of the republic and began flying the black and white flag used by the Taliban instead. The Russian ambassador to Afghanistan, Dmitry Zhirnov, said the recognition of the Taliban reflected “a sincere desire of the Russian Federation to establish a full-fledged partnership with Afghanistan.”. It would seem to be an awkward partnership. A little over three decades ago, the Soviet Union and the mujahideen fought in a long and brutal war, which ended in a humiliating Soviet defeat—often called the “Soviet Vietnam”—that may have hastened the Soviet Union’s collapse. What’s more, the Russian government has committed itself in recent years to a politics of history focused on rewriting the story of the Soviet-Afghan War as a heroic, rather than failed, conflict—at the same time as the Kremlin has moved closer to the Taliban. This disconnect reflects the gap between Russia’s efforts to create a usable past to justify its imperial project and the reality of its exercise of power.
The Awkward History of Russia’s Recent Recognition of the Taliban | Lawfare
