Three months after the Indian government allowed the Taliban to send its diplomats to its embassy in Delhi, the Afghan regime has dispatched a senior Foreign ministry official to take charge at the premises in the Capital.
Mufti Noor Ahmad Noor, Director General of the First Political Division of the Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) based in Kabul, arrived this week and has met the staff members of the embassy, sources said.
As charge d’affaires (CDA), Noor conveyed that he will continue the services of the Indian local staffers, sources said. However, the fate of the Afghan embassy staffers and the diplomats appointed by the Ashraf Ghani government remains unclear.
Noor visited Jama Masjid earlier this week, as part of his first visit outside the embassy premises. He will be living at the ambassador’s residence inside the embassy complex.
He had accompanied Taliban-led Afghan Foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi during his visit to India in October last year.
While the Indian government has not granted official recognition to the Taliban regime, it has taken the first step by hosting at least three ministers in the last few months; besides Muttaqi, the Trade Minister and Health Minister have also paid visits to India.
At the embassy, the point of contention has been the flag of the Taliban regime. It remains to be seen how long the flag belonging to the previous regime and the Afghan Republic is flown atop the Afghan embassy in Delhi, and whether it is replaced by the Taliban’s Emirate flag.
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Sources said the Indian government has taken the pragmatic step of dealing with the Taliban, who are the de facto government in Afghanistan.
India upgraded its technical mission in Kabul to the status of an embassy. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) had said the Indian embassy in Kabul will further augment India’s contribution to Afghanistan’s comprehensive development, humanitarian assistance, and capacity-building initiatives.
“In keeping with the decision announced during the recent visit of the Afghan foreign minister to India, the government is restoring the status of the technical mission of India in Kabul to that of the Embassy of India in Afghanistan with immediate effect,” it had said.
The MEA had said the decision underscores India’s resolve to deepen its bilateral engagement with the Afghan side in “all spheres of mutual interest”. “The Embassy of India in Kabul will further augment India’s contribution to Afghanistan’s comprehensive development, humanitarian assistance, and capacity-building initiatives, in keeping with the priorities and aspirations of Afghan society,” it said in a statement. The Indian mission is headed by a diplomat in the rank of Charge d’affaires, sources said.
