MOSCOW: The lower house of the Russian parliament gave initial approval Tuesday to a long-discussed bill that would set the stage for Moscow to remove the designation of the Taliban in Afghanistan as a terrorist group.

Under the bill passed by the State Duma in the first of three required readings, the official terrorist designation of an organisation could be suspended temporarily by a court. The legislation also needs to be approved by the upper house and signed by President Vladimir Putin to become law.

The Taliban were put on Russia's list of terrorist organisations in 2003, and any contact with such groups is punishable under Russian law. At the same time, Taliban delegations attended various forums hosted by Moscow.

Russian officials have shrugged off questions about the seeming contradiction by emphasising the need to engage the Taliban to help stabilise Afghanistan.

The Soviet Union fought a 10-year war in Afghanistan that ended with Moscow withdrawing its troops in 1989. Since then, Moscow has made a diplomatic comeback as an influential power broker, hosting talks on Afghanistan involving senior representatives of the Taliban and neighbouring nations.

There is a deepening divide in the international community on how to deal with the Taliban, who have been in power for three years and face no internal or external opposition. Afghanistan's rulers have pursued bilateral ties with major regional powers.