Russia has remained one of the most important supporters of the Taliban, and Moscow has repeatedly expressed its unflinching support to improve the political landscape of Afghanistan in the global arena.

The Taliban took power in August 2021 following the withdrawal of US troops and the disintegration of the Afghan army, but since then no country has recognized them. The majority of the western countries, inducing US imposed conditions to reopen schools for girls and let women go to the workplaces as the main element to recognize their government.

However, the Taliban seems reluctant to do so as they are yet to reopen schools’ girls. Meanwhile, the regional countries including China and Iran called for the formation of an inclusive government in order to recognize the Taliban government.

Anyways, Russia is currently considering taking the Taliban off its list of terrorist organizations, according to TACC.

There is no final decision yet to be taken on this, but it is widely held by the officials of Taliban and Russian to further explore on the matter during the International Economic Forum to be held in Kazan, Russia in May. The Taliban are officially invited. There is no major obstacle on the way of having a very cordial tie between the Kremlin and Kabul due to the political and economic crisis in Afghanistan and Western sanctions on Russia due to the Ukraine war, likely improving the chance that both countries gain something from a stronger relationship.

In 2003 Russia recognized Taliban as a terrorist movement

In 1999, the UN Security Council adopted a resolution in which the Taliban was found responsible for the “provision of sanctuary and training for international terrorists.”

In 2003, the Russian supreme court recognized the Taliban as a terrorist outlet, saying the Taliban has maintained links with illegal armed forces in Chechnya and tried to seize power in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.

However, the Kremlin is not taking the Taliban as the past and it was Russia that hosted the Taliban for the first time before the official start of intro-Afghan peace talks in Doha of Qatar in 2018. The Taliban officials were also happy to visit Moscow and they have given several interviews to the Russian media outlets and to other media.

Russian Presidential envoy to Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov said that the Russian Foreign and Justice Ministries have called on President Vladimir Putin to remove the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan from Moscow’s terrorist list.

In 2024, Russia seeks to remove Taliban from Moscow’s terrorist list  

“This must be done. Without this, it will be premature to talk about recognition. Therefore, work on this issue continues. All considerations have been reported to the top leadership of Russia. We are waiting for a decision.”

Meanwhile, Kabulov confirmed that the Taliban will participate in the economic forum and said Taliban’s labor minister and the head of Chamber of Commerce and Industry will take part in the forum.

“I expect that they and the accompanying Afghan business people will agree with Russian and other foreign partners on establishing cooperation,” Kabulov said.

“As for the Russian side, I have already mentioned that such cooperation is already in place, but its potential has not been exhausted and wider possibilities exist,” he added.

“I expect that the Afghan delegation will make the most of this chance to strengthen and expand cooperation both with Russian business and with other friendly countries,” he said.

The call to remove Taliban name from list comes when Pakistani authorities called on the Taliban government to shun supporting and harboring Pakistani Taliban TTP. They also informed about the arrest of 11 Islamist militants who were involved in the suicide bombing that killed Chinese engineers in March.

Pakistan blames Taliban for supporting terrorist group

The attack involving suicide bombing occurred in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province forced Power China and the China Gezhouba Company to halt work on two dam projects. Five Chinese engineers and a Pakistani driver were killed in the incident.

In a press conference, Pakistan’s counter-terrorism chief Rai Tahir along with Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said that the detained 11 militants belong to the local Taliban, also known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

Tahir said that the arrest of the suspects was made possible by the suicide bombers use of a mobile to communicate with his local handlers.

But Tahir claimed that the investigation and evidence revealed that the militants were following orders from TTP officials in Afghanistan.

Pakistani officials have earlier also claimed that the attack was plotted in Afghanistan and that the suicide bomber was also an Afghan national.

However, the Taliban officially denied the claim and said that they will not allow the Afghan soil to be used against any other country. Taliban also said that they are not harboring TTP militants and called on Pakistan to improve its security and stop blaming its neighbor. Meanwhile, Minister Naqvi claimed that they have forensic evidence to prove that the TTP militants who were operating from Afghanistan are involved in the attack.

Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, chaired a meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee on Monday to discuss trial regulations on accountability for failing to prevent or neutralise financial risks, Xinhua news agency reported.

Experts said the meeting sent a “strong signal” that China will continue to step up efforts to prevent and neutralise major risks in the financial sector, in line with its goal of promoting high-quality development and building itself into a global financial power.

The experts also noted that a series of new measures to address financial risks, followed by trial provisions on accountability, will further strengthen institutional mechanisms to better prevent and resolve risks, and promote the sound and high-quality development of the financial market, which plays a crucial role in the overall economy.

In particular, the meeting stressed that the prevention and neutralisation of financial risks are related to national security, overall development and people’s property security. According to the meeting, this is an important obstacle to be overcome in order to ensure high-quality development.

The meeting noted that the trial provisions on accountability are also intended to encourage officials at all levels to form an accurate view of performance and better perform various tasks, such as comprehensively strengthening financial supervision, preventing and neutralising financial risks, and promoting high-quality financial development, and stressed the strictness in implementing the trial provisions.

Experts said the meeting underscored the Chinese top leadership’s focus on fighting financial risks and promoting high-quality development in the financial sector.

‘Tackling financial risks has become a top priority for the CPC Central Committee, and eliminating loopholes and weaknesses requires continuous efforts,’ Dong Shaopeng, a senior research fellow at the Chongyang Institute of Financial Studies at Renmin University of China, told the Global Times on Monday.

Dong said that since the second half of 2023, when the stock market faced severe downside risks, there have also been major risks in related areas such as financial markets, the property sector and local government debt, which also require tighter regulation. I believe it is essential to strengthen accountability provisions to overcome the weak links in our country’s financial regulatory system,” he added.

Monday’s meeting followed a meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee on April 30, which stressed the need to continuously prevent and neutralise risks in key areas. The meeting called for the exploration of policies to reduce the housing inventory and improve the quality of new housing. The plan for local governments to resolve debt risks should be fully implemented, and provinces, cities and counties with high debt risks should not only effectively reduce their debt burden but also maintain stable development, it said.

The tone-setting Central Financial Work Conference in October 2023 emphasised comprehensively strengthening financial supervision, improving the financial system, optimising financial services, and preventing and resolving risks. Then, in March, the Government Work Report called for further efforts to effectively prevent and resolve risks in key areas.

Nvidia’s most advanced artificial intelligence chip for the Chinese market got off to a weak start as a supply glut led to it being priced below a rival chip from Chinese tech giant Huawei, Reuters quoted sources familiar with the matter as saying.

Experts say the price drop underscores the challenges facing Nvidia’s China business due to US sanctions on AI chip exports and increased competition, casting a shadow over the company’s future in the Chinese market, which accounts for 17 per cent of its fiscal 2024 revenue.

Rising competitive pressure in China is also signalling caution for investors in the US semiconductor designer.

Nvidia, which dominates the market for artificial intelligence chips, introduced three chips designed specifically for China late last year after US sanctions prevented it from exporting its most advanced semiconductors.

Of those chips, the H20 is the most closely watched as it is the most powerful Nvidia product sold in China, but three supply chain sources told Reuters there was ample supply of chips on the market, indicating weak demand.

H20 chips are in some cases being sold at a discount of more than 10 per cent to a Chinese company’s most powerful AI chip, the Huawei Ascend 910B, two of the three sources told Reuters, requesting anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue.

Analysts say Nvidia is scrambling to grab share in a market it cannot afford to lose, but the outlook is increasingly uncertain.

China’s global share of the artificial intelligence industry is expected to exceed 30 per cent by 2035, according to a report by Chinese research firm CCID Consulting.

“Nvidia is walking a fine line, trying to strike a balance between protecting the Chinese market and managing tensions in the US,” Hebe Chen, a market analyst at IG, told Reuters: “Nvidia is definitely preparing for the worst in the long run.”

During Nvidia’s first-quarter earnings call on Wednesday, executives warned that the company’s business in China was “significantly” lower than in the past because of the sanctions.

CFO Colette Kress said: “Our data centre revenue in China is significantly lower than prior to the implementation of new export control restrictions in October. We expect the market in China to remain highly competitive going forward”.

Analysts said H20’s performance will be a key factor for its business in China, while long-term prospects will depend on how it competes with domestic technology giant Huawei.

Huawei only started challenging Nvidia last year, and the Guangdong-based company will significantly increase shipments of its Ascend 910B chip this year, which sources say has outperformed the H20 on some key metrics.

In the past six months, only five state or state-affiliated buyers have expressed interest in buying H20 chips, while more than a dozen have shown interest in Huawei’s 910B over the same period, according to a Reuters review of available government procurement data, which is not comprehensive and may not reflect the full extent of market demand.