The Taliban regime in Afghanistan is closing its diplomatic missions in the United States seven months after it took power in Kabul. Diplomatic sources report this.
Afghanistan’s embassy in Washington and consulates in New York and Los Angeles will cease operations from Wednesday, an Afghan diplomat who asked to remain anonymous said. The reason would be a lack of resources, but the diplomat did not elaborate on that.
The US-backed government appointed the diplomats previously employed in the United States in Kabul that were overthrown by the radical Islamist Taliban last year. They haven’t been paid for months. The Afghan diplomat said efforts had been made to keep the activities going until the last minute.
If diplomatic missions are closed, Afghan diplomats will have 30 days to request an extended stay before being deported, the New York Times reported Friday, citing sources at the State Department. But they would not be sent back to Afghanistan, although it is unclear where else they would go. A quarter of the roughly 100 Afghan diplomats in the US have not yet applied to remain in the US.