Afghanistan's Taliban Move Spokesman's Office to Kandahar

Taliban fighters patrol inside the city of Ghazni, southwest of Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, Aug. 12, 2021. The Taliban captured the provincial capital near Kabul on Thursday, the 10th the insurgents have taken over a weeklong blitz across Afghanistan as the US and NATO prepare to withdraw entirely from the country after decades of war. (AP Photo/Gulabuddin Amiri)
Taliban fighters patrol inside the city of Ghazni, southwest of Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, Aug. 12, 2021. The Taliban captured the provincial capital near Kabul on Thursday, the 10th the insurgents have taken over a weeklong blitz across Afghanistan as the US and NATO prepare to withdraw entirely from the country after decades of war. (AP Photo/Gulabuddin Amiri)
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Afghanistan's Taliban Move Spokesman's Office to Kandahar

Taliban fighters patrol inside the city of Ghazni, southwest of Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, Aug. 12, 2021. The Taliban captured the provincial capital near Kabul on Thursday, the 10th the insurgents have taken over a weeklong blitz across Afghanistan as the US and NATO prepare to withdraw entirely from the country after decades of war. (AP Photo/Gulabuddin Amiri)
Taliban fighters patrol inside the city of Ghazni, southwest of Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, Aug. 12, 2021. The Taliban captured the provincial capital near Kabul on Thursday, the 10th the insurgents have taken over a weeklong blitz across Afghanistan as the US and NATO prepare to withdraw entirely from the country after decades of war. (AP Photo/Gulabuddin Amiri)

The main spokesman for Afghanistan's Taliban administration will move his office from the capital to the southern city of Kandahar, the information ministry said, a sign of the growing importance of the region that is home to its supreme leader.

The province of Kandahar is the historical birthplace of the Taliban movement, Reuters said.

Supreme leader Haibatullah Akhundzada lives there and rarely makes public visits to Kabul, about 450 km (280 miles) to the north, where national government offices, the cabinet and the acting prime minister are based.

"Zabihullah Mujahid and Samangani are both transferred to Kandahar," said Abdul Maten Qanee, a spokesperson for the information ministry, referring to Innamullah Samangani, a deputy spokesman.

It is one of the first known instances of an official in a senior role in the Taliban administration shifting their office from the capital.

The information ministry did not elaborate on the reason for the move but it suggests more prominence for those officials based in Kandahar.

Major decisions, such as restricting the access of girls and women to highschool and university and stopping most female NGO staff from working, have come from Akhundzada in Kandahar and been implemented by ministries in Kabul, officials have said.

Mujahid has for years been one of the main public voices of the Taliban, including during their insurgency, which ended when they took over as US-led foreign forces withdrew in 2021.

Though he regularly spoke to reporters by telephone and via text message, he first revealed himself at a news conference shortly after the Taliban took over. (Reporting by Kabul newsroom; Editing by Robert Birsel)



Russia Removes Afghan Taliban from List of Banned Terrorist Groups

 Russia's Supreme Court judge Oleg Nefyodov delivers a verdict lifting a ban on Afghanistan's Taliban, who were designated as a terrorist group more than two decades ago, in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, April 17, 2025. (AP)
Russia's Supreme Court judge Oleg Nefyodov delivers a verdict lifting a ban on Afghanistan's Taliban, who were designated as a terrorist group more than two decades ago, in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, April 17, 2025. (AP)
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Russia Removes Afghan Taliban from List of Banned Terrorist Groups

 Russia's Supreme Court judge Oleg Nefyodov delivers a verdict lifting a ban on Afghanistan's Taliban, who were designated as a terrorist group more than two decades ago, in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, April 17, 2025. (AP)
Russia's Supreme Court judge Oleg Nefyodov delivers a verdict lifting a ban on Afghanistan's Taliban, who were designated as a terrorist group more than two decades ago, in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, April 17, 2025. (AP)

Russia on Thursday suspended its ban on the Taliban, which it had designated for more than two decades as a terrorist organization, in a move that paves the way for Moscow to normalize ties with the leadership of Afghanistan.

No country currently recognizes the Taliban government that seized power in August 2021 as US-led forces staged a chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan after 20 years of war. But Russia has been gradually building relations with the movement, which President Vladimir Putin said last year was now an ally in fighting terrorism.

The Taliban was outlawed by Russia as a terrorist movement in 2003. State media said the Supreme Court on Thursday lifted the ban with immediate effect.

Russia sees a need to work with the Taliban as it faces a major security threat from extremist militant groups based in a string of countries from Afghanistan to the Middle East.

"Russia aims to build mutually beneficial ties with Afghanistan in all areas, including the fight against drugs and terrorism," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. It added that Moscow was grateful to Afghanistan for military operations against the local branch of ISIS.

Moscow also aims to strengthen trade, business and investment ties with Kabul, leveraging Afghanistan's strategic position for future energy and infrastructure projects, the ministry statement said.

In March 2024, gunmen killed 145 people at a concert hall outside Moscow in an attack claimed by ISIS. US officials said they had intelligence indicating it was the Afghan branch of the group, ISIS Khorasan (ISIS-K), that was responsible.

The Taliban says it is working to wipe out the presence of ISIS in Afghanistan.

Western diplomats say the Taliban's path towards wider international recognition is blocked until it changes course on women's rights. The Taliban has closed high schools and universities to girls and women and placed restrictions on their movement without a male guardian.