Afghan Embassy in New Delhi Shuts Down over Challenges from India

In a press release, it said the decision was already effective from Thursday and follows the embassy’s earlier move to cease operations starting October 1 due to the absence of a recognized government in Kabul. At the time, it had said it would continue to provide emergency consular services to Afghan nationals.

The embassy said the earlier decision was made “in the hope that the Indian government’s stance would evolve favorably for the normal continuation of the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan in New Delhi.”

But in the eight weeks since, the embassy faced a difficult choice due to “constant pressure from both the Taliban and the Indian government to relinquish control.”

India has not recognized the Taliban government — which seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021 — and evacuated its own staff from Kabul ahead of the United States withdrawal from Afghanistan two years ago, the AP reported.

India no longer has a diplomatic presence there. India has said it will follow the lead of the United Nations in deciding whether to recognize the Taliban government.

The Afghan Embassy in New Delhi was run by staff appointed by the previous government of ousted Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, with permission from Indian authorities.

In its statement Friday, the mission said there are no diplomats from the Afghan Republic in India, and that those who served the embassy have safely reached third countries.

The UN refugee agency says Afghans account for around one-third of the nearly 40,000 refugees it has registered in India, which doesn’t include those registered through other agencies.