New Delhi: Indian authorities are examining the veracity of the Afghan embassy's communication on closing down its operations in the national capital.
According to sources, complications arose after Afghan authorities woke up to the fact that the embassy which has been headed by Ambassador Farid Mamundzay was appointed by the previous Ashraf Ghani government. It's not clear why Afghanistan realised late that Mamundzay has been operating as the Afghan envoy even after the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021.
Also read: Exclusive: 'The road ahead is extremely dangerous': Afghan Ambassador in India on Taliban
Afghan embassy officials said it will shut down on Saturday. According to reports, within the Afghan embassy, a letter was sent from the mission to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Wednesday to close down the embassy by 30 September. However, the Ministry of External Affairs has not confirmed the receipt of the letter and no comment on the matter has been made so far.
Pertaining to the development, sources on Thursday said, "The Afghan Embassy in New Delhi has purportedly issued a communication on this issue. The authenticity of the communication and its contents are being examined".
"This is in the context of the Ambassador being out of India for past many months, steady departure of diplomats to third countries reportedly after receiving asylum as well as reports of infighting amongst Embassy personnel", added sources.
Also, the developments come amid the tussle between the previous Afghan democratic government and the Taliban regime there. Earlier in April this year, a crisis broke out in the Afghan embassy in Delhi when Afghan envoy Farid Mamundzay's counselor, Qadir Shah, wrote to the MEA claiming to have been appointed as charge d’affaires (CDA) by the Taliban government.
This happened when Mamundzay appointed by the previous Afghan govt was visiting his family in London and rumors had it that he was missing. Later in May, he came back and Qadir was reportedly not allowed to enter the embassy. However, he again went back to London and has not returned to India for the past three months now.
Such development is happening at a time when Moscow is all set to host the meeting on Afghanistan on 29th September in Kazan, Russia, and India being a major stakeholder in the Moscow format meeting, will attend it. Important to note here is that New Delhi has not officially recognized the Taliban regime in Kabul and so do many major countries.
