Taliban recognition is 'not on table': Russia foreign minister

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said on Saturday that international recognition of the Taliban was not currently under consideration.

His comments come after the Taliban nominated a UN envoy, setting up a showdown over Afghanistan ’s seat at the world body.

“The question of international recognition of the Taliban at the present juncture is not on the table,” Lavrov said, adding that Russia , China, Pakistan and the US were working together to ensure that Taliban keep their promises.

Taliban foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi on Monday nominated the group’s Doha-based spokesman Suhail Shaheen as Afghanistan’s UN ambassador.

Ghulam Isaczai, the UN ambassador of erstwhile Afghan government, has also asked to renew his UN accreditation. Russia is a member of a nine-member UN credentials committee — along with China and the US — which will deal with the competing claims on Afghanistan’s UN seat later this year.

When the Taliban last ruled between 1996 and 2001 the ambassador of the Afghan government they toppled remained the UN representative after the credentials committee deferred its decision on rival claims to the seat.