“... What does that mean? Although he does not know the internal decision-making processes in the Russian Foreign Ministry, says Hans-Jakob Schindler from the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism (ICCT) in The Hague. However, it can be assumed that Russia expects "something in return" for the offer to remove the Taliban from the terror list. However, that could cause problems: "The Taliban are always very willing to accept advance payments, but if there is something in return, things get very complicated with them." The German Afghanistan expert Thomas Ruttig sees the Kremlin's initiative as "a kind of salami tactic: very small steps towards official recognition - which the Taliban certainly likes." The next step after being removed from the terror list could be the recognition of the Taliban as a legitimate state power in Afghanistan, experts believe.”