Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs Mawlavi Amir Khan Muttaqi in his recent meeting with the European Union’s Special Envoy for Afghanistan, Tomas Niklasson and head of the EU Delegation to Afghanistan, Raffaella Iodice has asked for the reopening of EU member countries’ embassies in Kabul.
The Islamic Emirate leadership had also asked the world countries to reopen their embassies in Kabul as the security has improved unprecedentedly across the country.
The IEA has repeatedly assured the world countries of better security and asked for positive engagement with the Islamic Emirate.
Currently, foreign embassies of regional countries particularly China, Russia, Turkey, Qatar, Pakistan, Iran and Uzbekistan are open in Kabul. Besides, offices of international organizations including UN agencies are in Kabul and other provinces of the country providing humanitarian assistance to the poverty-stricken people. Previously, the UN Secretary General’s deputy special representative for Afghanistan, Markus Potzel, had called on Germany and other EU and western countries to reopen their embassies in Kabul. Potzel, who was German ambassador to Afghanistan between 2014 and 2016, believed that a diplomatic presence in Kabul would allow for a better assessment of the situation rather than from a distance.
Potzel had considered that Germany and other Western countries have interests in Afghanistan, adding that it would be a good idea for more Western countries to have representation again in Kabul, the capital.
With the improvement of security across the country, it is necessary that the EU and western countries should reopen their embassies and diplomatic missions in Kabul. In recent days, Afghanistan embassy to Tehran has been handed over to the Islamic Emirate. Besides, Afghanistan consulate in Istanbul and some other regional countries have been handed over to the Islamic Emirate.
It is worth mentioning that soon after the fall of the republic and re-establishment of the Islamic Emirate (IEA) in mid-August 2021, most of the foreign countries closed their embassies in Kabul, but some countries as Russia, China, Iran, Turkey and Pakistan were the only countries that kept their diplomatic missions open in the country.
Mohammad Daud
