DELHI NEWS — India’s foreign ministry stated on Thursday that the Afghan embassy in New Delhi is still open for business, contrary to its prior notification of closure due to a lack of diplomatic support in India and the absence of a recognized administration in Kabul.
The Ministry of External Affairs’ spokeswoman, Arindam Bagchi, told reporters last week that the Afghan embassy had communicated with the ministry that it planned to cease operations on October 1.
The embassy promised to provide Afghan nationals with emergency consular services in a statement on Sunday.
“The New Delhi embassy is still operational. At the embassy and consulate in Hyderabad and Mumbai, we communicate with Afghan diplomats,” Bagchi said.
He also brought up the prolonged absence of the ambassador from Afghanistan as well as the recent departure of a sizable number of diplomats.
Regarding this development, the Afghan Embassy remained silent as of Thursday.
India has not formally acknowledged the August 2021 takeover of power in Afghanistan by the Taliban regime. Prior to the United States’ exit from Afghanistan two years ago, it had already withdrawn its own staff from Kabul and, as a result, no longer maintains a diplomatic presence there.
With permission from Indian authorities, employees of the former Afghan government, headed by the deposed President Ashraf Ghani, have been running the Afghan Embassy in New Delhi.
It’s important to note that, according to the U.N. refugee agency, Afghans make up around one-third of the nearly 40,000 refugees who have been formally registered in India. Afghan refugees who have not registered are not included in this number.
India demonstrated its support by sending wheat, medications, COVID-19 vaccines, winter gear, and other supplies to Afghanistan last year to help with shortages.
India sent a group of officials—not diplomats—to its embassy in Kabul in June of the previous year.
