India on Thursday said the Afghan embassy in New Delhi is continuing to operate and that it is in touch with the diplomats at the mission as well as in consulates in Mumbai and Hyderabad.
The diplomats at the embassy appointed by the previous Afghan government had announced in a statement on September 30 that the mission is ceasing its operations from October 1, alleging “lack of support from the host government”.
However, the Afghan consulates in Mumbai and Hyderabad announced that they would continue their operations. “Our understanding is that the Afghan embassy in New Delhi is functioning or continuing to function. We are in touch with the Afghan diplomats who are there in that embassy as well as with the Afghan diplomats who are at the consulates in Mumbai and Hyderabad,” External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said. “However, we received communication last week purportedly from the embassy, indicating that it intends to suspend operations at the end of September,” he said.
“Of course, such a decision is an internal matter of a foreign mission. However, we have noted that the Afghan consulates general in Mumbai and in Hyderabad voiced their objection to that decision or to such a decision,” Bagchi said at his weekly media briefing while responding to a question on the issue. The embassy was headed by Ambassador Farid Mamundzay but he is out of India for several weeks. He was appointed by the previous Ashraf Ghani government.
“We are also aware that there has been a prolonged absence of the ambassador and that a large number of Afghan diplomats have left India in the recent past,” Bagchi said. “We would hope that a substantial number of Afghan nationals in India, including students, are able to continue to receive necessary consular support. On our part, we will continue with our efforts to assist the people of Afghanistan,” he added. Asked about the allegations that New Delhi did not support the embassy, Bagchi said the charges were factually incorrect. He said the government is in touch with the Afghan diplomats in Delhi as well as in Mumbai and Hyderabad.
“We are not going to discuss what they will do, who will replace whom. That’s not within the remit of the government of India,” he said. Bagchi also said that the government is extending visas to Afghan nationals who are unable to return to their country. In April-May, the Afghan embassy was rocked by a power struggle in the wake of reports of the Taliban appointed a charge d’affaires to head the mission replacing Mamundzay.
Following the episode, the embassy came out with a statement that there was no change in its leadership. The tussle for power had erupted after Qadir Shah, who was working as the trade councillor at the embassy since 2020, wrote to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in late April claiming that he had been appointed as the charge d’affaires at the embassy by the Taliban.
India has not yet recognised the Taliban set up and has been pitching for the formation of a truly inclusive government in Kabul besides insisting that Afghan soil must not be used for any terrorist activities against any country.
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