Will Kazakhstan remove Taliban from prohibited organizations list

ASTANA. KAZINFORM The issue of removing the Taliban from the list of prohibited organizations [Ed. note - prohibited in Kazakhstan] is not on the agenda now. This is what Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Kanat Tumysh said at the meeting with journalists on Monday, July 30, Kazinform reports.

He said that the issue will be coordinated together with the international community, partners and colleagues. «Relevant consultations are ongoing,» he added.

According to him, the guests arriving in Kazakhstan are not in the sanctions list and no restriction measures can be applied on them. «Moreover, most of them are representatives of business communities, or ordinary people,» he said.

The Deputy Minister pointed out that the Taliban movement had not been declared by the U.S. and European countries, such as Great Britain as a terrorist organization. These countries maintain contacts with the Taliban at different levels. The negotiations with the Taliban movement members are held on the so-called Doha platform. «In legal terms we do not breach any international norms,» he added.

Earlier he said that Kazakhstan focuses on the development of trade-economic relations with Afghanistan. The oncoming Kazakh-Afghan Business Forum slated for August 3-5 in Astana aims exclusively at the development of these bilateral ties.