The Afghan embassy in India formally closed on Sunday, more than two years after the Taliban seized power in Kabul after the overthrow of the Western-backed administration.
The Taliban-led government in Afghanistan is not recognized by the majority of other countries, including India, putting numerous Afghan embassies and consulates around the world in a state of limbo.
Operation of the Afghan Embassy in India is suspended
Taliban representatives were not allowed access to diplomatic properties or premises because of diplomats appointed by the previous administration.
The Afghan Embassy in New Delhi announced its decision to stop operating with “profound sadness, regret, and disappointment,” according to a statement posted on the social media site X.
India will assume caretaker administration of the embassy, the statement stated.
A “lack of timely and sufficient support from visa renewal for diplomats,” as well as staff and resource reductions, were cited in the unsigned statement as reasons why maintaining operations had grown “increasingly challenging.”
Rumors that the ambassador and other top officials had just left India as a result of quarreling among those who remained in New Delhi led to the closure decision.
In contrast, the embassy said in its statement that it “categorically refutes any baseless claims regarding internal strife” among its staff and denied any diplomats were “using the crisis to seek asylum in a third country.”
Due to Taliban bombings, New Delhi evacuated its entire mission from Kabul in August 2021, but a small team returned the following year to reestablish the embassy.
However, a few embassies, like Pakistan, China, and Russia, still have ambassadors in Kabul. Most other countries evacuated their diplomatic personnel during this period and have not since sent any back.
many people trapped in India
Tens of thousands of Afghan students, businesspeople, and medical tourists were left stranded after the Kabul power change.
The majority, including Afghan army cadet officers who feared persecution, decided not to come back. Some of them have come back, and Taliban authorities are extolling the virtues of their leadership.
About a dozen Afghan embassies abroad, including those in Pakistan, China, Turkey, and Iran, are completely under the hands of the Taliban.
Others use a hybrid approach, where the embassy personnel continues to handle ordinary consular tasks like issuing visas and other paperwork notwithstanding the absence of the ambassador.
Italian police were called to the Afghanistan embassy in Rome in January of last year when fights broke out after a junior diplomat claimed he had been chosen by the Taliban’s authorities to succeed an ambassador who was loyal to the former administration.
The majority of senior Afghan foreign ministry officials were unavailable to comment on the closure of the embassy in New Delhi as they are now in Moscow for a conference on the nation organized by Russia.
There was no prompt reaction from India.
