Russia has accepted the credentials of a new ambassador of Afghanistan as part of an ongoing drive to build friendly relations with the country’s Taliban authorities, which seized power as United States troops withdrew from the country four years ago.

“We believe that the act of official recognition of the government of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan will give impetus to the development of productive bilateral cooperation between our countries in various fields,” said the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement on Thursday.

The move makes Russia the first country in the world to recognise the country’s Taliban government.

“This brave decision will be an example for others,” Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi said in a video of a meeting on Thursday with Dmitry Zhirnov, the Russian ambassador to Kabul, posted on X.

“Now that the process of recognition has started, Russia was ahead of everyone.”

The move is likely to be closely watched by Washington, which has frozen billions in Afghanistan’s central bank assets and enforced sanctions on some senior leaders in the Taliban, which has contributed to Afghanistan’s banking sector being largely cut off from the international financial system.

The group seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021, when US forces supporting the country’s internationally recognised government pulled out.

Moscow, which called the US withdrawal a “failure”, has taken steps to normalise relations with the Taliban authorities since then, seeing them as a potential economic partner and ally in fighting terrorism.

A Taliban delegation attended Russia’s flagship economic forum in Saint Petersburg in 2022 and 2024, and the group’s top diplomat met Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Moscow last October.

In July 2024, Russian President Vladimir Putin called the Taliban “allies in the fight against terrorism” – notably against Islamic State Khorasan Province, ISKP (ISIS-K), a group responsible for deadly attacks in both Afghanistan and Russia.

In April, Russia’s Supreme Court lifted the “terrorist” designation for the group.

Lavrov said that month that “the new authorities in Kabul are a reality”, urging Moscow to adopt a “pragmatic, not ideologised policy” towards the Taliban.

Moscow’s attitude towards the Taliban has shifted drastically over the last two decades.

The group was formed in 1994 during the Afghan Civil War, largely by former US-supported Mujahideen fighters who battled the Soviet Union during the 1980s.

The Soviet-Afghan war resulted in a stinging defeat for Moscow that may have hastened the demise of the USSR.

Russia put the Taliban on its “terrorist” blacklist in 2003 over its support for separatists in the North Caucasus.

But the Taliban’s return to power in 2021 has forced Russia and other countries in the region to change tack as they compete for influence.

Russia was the first country to open a business representative office in Kabul after the Taliban takeover, and has announced plans to use Afghanistan as a transit hub for gas heading to Southeast Asia.

The Afghan government is not officially recognised by any world body, and the United Nations refers to the administration as the “Taliban de facto authorities”.