KABUL, Sept 19 (Askume) – The Taliban government is in control of Afghanistan’s 39 embassies and consulates around the world, three years after seizing control of the country and toppling the former Western-backed government, the caretaker foreign ministry said on Thursday.
No international government has yet officially recognised the Taliban government, although China and the United Arab Emirates have officially accepted Taliban ambassadors in their respective capitals.
Many governments, particularly in the West including the United States, say the path to formal recognition of the Taliban remains blocked unless they change their stance on women’s rights and open high schools and universities to girls and women.
The Taliban say they respect rights based on their interpretation of Islamic law and that sanctions and the lack of recognition of their banking sector are hampering their economy.
Following the collapse of the government of the Republic of Afghanistan in 2021, foreign embassies were in chaos, and many embassies issued visas, passports, and other documents that the Taliban said in some cases should not be recognized.
The Taliban have appointed their own diplomats to lead several embassies, including ambassadors to Abu Dhabi and Beijing and a charge d’affaires in neighboring Pakistan. In some missions, diplomats appointed by the previous government work alongside Taliban officials.
“The 39 embassies and diplomatic affairs are under the jurisdiction of the central agency, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” Taliban acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Mottaki told a news conference in Kabul.
He said that last year the Foreign Ministry had sent dozens of diplomats to 11 countries including Turkey, Russia, Iran and Pakistan.
Muttaqi said Afghanistan would send a new ambassador to Uzbekistan this week and hoped Russia would remove the Taliban from its list of terrorist groups “soon.”
In July, the Taliban said it would cut ties with at least 14 Afghan diplomatic missions, most of them in Europe, and said it would not accept passports and visas issued by them.
