diplomacy
Closing Afghan missions in the United States
The Taliban took power in Afghanistan again about seven months ago. Photo: Hussein Malla/AP/dpa/Archive
© dpa-infocom GmbH
The Taliban took power in Afghanistan seven months ago. Operations in consulates and embassies in the United States will now be discontinued. The reason is a “lack of resources”.
According to information from diplomatic circles, the country’s representations in the USA are closing seven months after the Taliban took power again in Afghanistan.
The embassy in Washington and the consulates in New York and Los Angeles would cease operations this Wednesday, an Afghan diplomat who wished to remain anonymous told the dpa in Washington. The “lack of resources” is one reason for the closures. He did not want to give any further details. The diplomats were appointed by the government in Kabul, which was overthrown by the Taliban last August. You haven’t received any money for months.
The Afghan diplomat said efforts had been made to keep operations going until the very end. A message was last published on the Washington Embassy’s Twitter account on December 30. It said: “Without funding from any source, we are working hard to keep the embassy open and continue to offer our services. We remain hopeful that Afghanistan will one day achieve a sustainable peace.”
The New York Times reported last Friday, citing US State Department sources, that after the missions were closed, Afghan diplomats would have 30 days to apply for further stay in the United States before being deported. They would not be sent back to Afghanistan because of the danger. But it is not clear where the diplomats would go otherwise. Around a quarter of the roughly 100 Afghan diplomats in the United States have not yet applied to stay in the United States.