Afghan embassies shun Taliban govt

New Delhi:  Most of Afghanistans embassies have cut off contacts with the Kabul administration and the host countries.

Some embassies are still led by former minister Hanif Atmar and then vice-president Amrullah Saleh, Pajhwok News reported.

Some remained neutral, while others were in contact with the new administration, the source said, without providing further details.

The official said 80 per cent of the embassies’ expenses were met with their own revenues collected from services like issuance of passports and other facilities, the report added.

But now some of these embassies are silent on the revenue and act independently.

The workers in Afghanistan’s embassies in France and Germany had sought asylum in the host countries.

“The revenue of Afghanistan embassies in Europe is transferred to Bonn and then to Kabul. A few days ago, Atmar contacted the Bonn consulate and asked it to deposit the revenue it collected in his personal bank account, which he would transfer to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” said a source.

But the consulate responded that it could not do so because the money belonged to Afghanistan and Afghan people, the source said, as per the report.

The former MoFA official claimed that acting foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi had tried several times to organise an online meeting with Afghan envoys abroad.

The minister reportedly planned to hold a virtual meeting with them on Wednesday, but it was cancelled because most of the ambassadors were absent.

Some of Afghanistan’s embassies are acting independently and the nature of their revenue remains unknown.

Similarly, the ministry says one embassy is yet to deposit its money in a bank and four others have refused to answer questions about their activities, the report said.

A former MoFA official, who wished to go unnamed, told Pajhwok Afghan News that 80 per cent of the ministry staffers had left Afghanistan after the Taliban’s takeover.

(IANS)

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