The absence of Afghanistan’s ambassador to India, Farid Mamundzay, for nearly two months from the embassy has once again triggered speculation about his fate three months after he was in the middle of a power struggle for control of the mission in Delhi.

After reports emerged in the media about his long absence from the mission, Mamundzay on Friday clarified that he was out of the country for personal and family reasons and would be "returning to the embassy in New Delhi in the near future". Mission-related activities, he said, were being overseen and managed in his absence by the acting ambassador.

In mid-May, Mamundzay — who was appointed ambassador by the Ashraf Ghani government — was in the thick of a turf battle with a Taliban government appointee, trade counsellor Qadir Shah, who sought to wrest control of the mission.

India, which has not recognised the Taliban government in Kabul, has remained silent on the goings on within the Afghan mission.

While India has not established diplomatic relations with Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover in August 2021, the external affairs ministry has a technical team positioned at the Indian mission in Kabul to oversee Indian projects and also humanitarian aid that New Delhi has been periodically sending to the strife-torn country.