The Taliban say they no longer recognize Afghan diplomatic missions set up by the former government

ISLAMABAD (AP) — The Taliban said Tuesday they no longer recognize Afghanistan’s diplomatic missions set up by the former, Western-backed government and that they will not honor passports, visas and other documents issued by diplomats associated with the previous administration.

It’s the latest attempt by the Taliban to take control of Afghanistan’s embassies and consulates since returning to power in 2021. Many Taliban leaders are under sanctions, and no country recognizes them as Afghanistan’s legitimate rulers.

The country’s seat at the United Nations is still held by the former government, which was led by Ashraf Ghani, though the Taliban administration is seeking to claim that seat as well.

In a statement posted on the social media platform X, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that documents issued by missions in London, Berlin, Belgium, Bonn, Switzerland, Austria, France, Italy, Greece, Poland, Australia, Sweden, Canada and Norway are no longer accepted and the ministry “bears no responsibility” for those documents.

The documents would include passports, visa stickers, deeds and endorsements.

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The ministry said people in those countries will instead need to approach embassies and consulates controlled by the Taliban administration — the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, as they call their government.

“All Afghan nationals living abroad and foreigners can visit the IEA political and consular missions in other countries, other than the above-mentioned missions, to access consular services,” the post said.

The Taliban did not immediately respond to queries seeking clarification or additional details.

An Afghan national living in London where he is pursuing a master’s degree, Asad Mobariz, said he was disappointed and frustrated with the decision. It’s unfair and impractical to expect Afghans in the affected countries to travel to another country for consular services, he said.

“This decision disregards our needs and places an undue burden on us,” he told The Associated Press. “These services are crucial for my ability to travel, work and maintain my legal status in the U.K.”

The move puts the burden on Afghans living in Europe and will lead to increased financial strain and potential legal issues for those unable to access consular services locally, he said.

Another Afghan national, Adnan Najibi, who lives in Germany, said discrediting embassies was unlikely to benefit the Taliban.

“I live in a small town with a relatively low population; however, I still see that there are hundreds of Afghans living here,” Najibi said. “If someone previously obtained an Afghan passport, marriage certificate or any other document in a day, it may now take weeks or even longer.”

The German government said Tuesday it was assessing the potential impact of this announcement.

Afghanistan’s embassy in Britain said on X that it “firmly declares” it will continue all its consular and diplomatic services without any interruption.

In March 2023, the Taliban said they were trying to take charge of more Afghan embassies abroad. Their chief spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said the administration had sent diplomats to at least 14 countries.

The new development means the closest available Afghan embassies for people in Europe are likely to be in Spain and the Netherlands. In October, those two countries said they were working with Taliban authorities in Kabul after the Taliban suspended consular services at Afghanistan’s embassies in London and Vienna over what they said was “lack of transparency and cooperation.”

Since the Taliban takeover, some countries have retained active diplomatic missions in Afghanistan, including Pakistan and China.

Michael Kugelman, director of the Wilson Center’s South Asia Institute, said the Taliban were confident and emboldened, buoyed by the informal recognition they have received from many countries.

They are apparently trying to force Afghans to engage with the Taliban instead of with diplomats loyal to the former administration, he said.

“It’s about giving the Taliban more diplomatic clout abroad and consigning the pre-Taliban holdouts to irrelevance. The fact that many of these missions aren’t very active anyway makes Taliban efforts easier to pull off,” Kugelman said. “It’s like pushing on a door that’s already open.”

The Taliban have received informal recognition through establishing bilateral ties with countries such as Russia, China, Iran and Pakistan, and holding high-level meetings with officials from those countries. This past month, the Taliban were the Afghan representatives at United Nations-hosted talks on Afghanistan in Doha, Qatar, although the U.N. stressed that this did not amount to official recognition.

Also on Tuesday, the U.N. mission in Afghanistan said local intelligence officials in May forcibly closed the office of a women-led nongovernmental group for allowing some of its Afghan female employees to show in the office up for work.

The NGO was allowed to reopen days later, after signing a statement saying it would not allow women employees to come to the office, according to the mission’s latest report on human rights in Afghanistan. The report did not disclose the office’s location for “protection reasons.”

Since taking over, the Taliban have stopped girls’ education beyond the sixth grade and banned women from many jobs and most public spaces. Restrictions on women and girls are a major obstacle to the Taliban gaining official recognition as the country’s legitimate government.

The Taliban were not immediately available for comment on the report.