The Taliban have sought Russia’s assistance in regaining access to meetings of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) after being excluded from recent sessions.

Gul Hassan, the Taliban’s ambassador in Moscow, raised the issue during talks with Bakhtiyor Khakimov, the Russian president’s special representative to the SCO. Russia is the only country that recognises the Taliban authorities.

According to a statement from the Taliban embassy in Moscow, the meeting focused on “reactivating Afghanistan’s observer status” for future SCO gatherings.

The SCO, founded in 2001, includes Russia, China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Pakistan, Iran and Uzbekistan as full members. Belarus joined on 4 July 2024. Afghanistan and Mongolia hold observer status, while dialogue partners range from Azerbaijan and Armenia to the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Türkiye and Sri Lanka.

Unlike the Taliban administration, Mongolia has continued to attend SCO meetings as an observer over the past four years. Despite Russia’s recognition of the Taliban, the group was not invited to the 24th meeting of the SCO Council of Heads of Government, held in Moscow on 18 November.

The embassy said Hassan also discussed the outcomes of the latest SCO meeting with Khakimov, who reportedly stressed the importance of removing obstacles and maintaining dialogue. He suggested that Afghanistan’s participation as an observer would benefit all parties.

Earlier this year, the Taliban’s Foreign Ministry claimed that China had invited its representatives to an SCO meeting, but the group was also excluded from the SCO foreign ministers’ gathering held in China on 15 July.