Aibek Smadiyarov, Kazakhstan’s spokesperson of the foreign ministry, announced that the country will remove the Taliban from the list of prohibited organisations.

Samdiyarov said that Astana has decided to exclude the group in the new update, in accordance with the UN practice.

Quoting the country’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Kazinform News Agency wrote that the country regularly updates the national list of terrorist organisations which are banned in Kazakhstan, and as a part of this process, it has been decided to exclude Taliban from this list now.

At the same time, Samdiyarov emphasised that the diplomatic relations between Kazakhstan and the Taliban depend on the decisions and resolutions of the Security Council and the United Nations General Assembly, and the country will strictly adhere to them.

In reaction to Kazakhstan’s decision, Zamir Kabulov, Russia's special representative for Afghanistan, stated that while his country respects Astana's decision, Moscow has not yet decided to remove the name of the Taliban from the list of banned groups.

On Friday, in an interview with Russian media, NCN, Kabulov said that his country "will not negotiate" on this issue of removing the name of the Taliban from the list of terrorist groups.

He emphasised that no actions or negotiations will be undertaken to remove the Taliban from the list of banned organisations until the Russian leadership takes a decision on this matter.