According to Taliban officials, the Taliban set up in Kabul has dispatched a diplomat to Islamabad to manage the Afghan embassy, as well as three consul generals for Peshawar, Quetta, and Karachi, The News reports.
“Even though Pakistan has not recognized our government, we decided to send our diplomats to Islamabad to help individuals seeking visas for Afghanistan.” “Visas were issued to the diplomats at the Pakistani embassy in Kabul,” a senior Taliban leader said from Kabul.
Asked to remain anonymous, Mohammad Shokaib has been appointed as first secretary or charge d’affaires at the Afghan embassy in Islamabad, he said. According to Taliban sources in Kabul’s ministry of foreign affairs, Maulvi Ameer Khan Muttaqi, the Taliban’s foreign minister, had approved and signed the credentials of the three diplomats in Pakistan.
Taliban said the decision to appoint diplomats was made on the growing demands from the people, mostly belonging to the development sector, seeking Afghanistan’s visas. According to the Taliban, Mohammad Shokaib will work as an acting ambassador till the appointment of a full-time envoy.
The Afghan embassy in Islamabad was without an ambassador since July this year when the previous government of Dr. Ashraf Ghani called back their ambassador to Kabul as a mark of protest over the alleged kidnapping of Ms. Silsila Alikhil, daughter of the then envoy Najibullah Alikhil by unknown people from the capital city.
The Taliban sources in Kabul said the Afghan embassy in Islamabad had resumed official functions to help supervise visa issuance and other functions. In addition, three officials were appointed to run the consulates in Peshawar, Quetta, and Karachi.
