The Taliban have announced the appointment of an “acting consul” at Afghanistan’s Mumbai consulate.
India did not officially comment on the announcement but sources, while confirming a new diplomat at the mission to address staff shortage, maintained that he was only an Afghan national working at the consulate.
Afghanistan’s deputy foreign minister A.K. Stanikzai announced on X on Monday night that Dr Ikramuddin Kamil had been appointed as the acting consul in Mumbai, the first such appointment made in India by the Taliban.
Nearly 24 hours later, a source here said: “A young Afghan student, who the external affairs ministry is familiar with and who has studied in India for seven years while completing his doctorate from South Asia University on a ministry of external affairs scholarship, has agreed to function as a diplomat in the Afghan consulate. As far as his affiliation or status is concerned, for us, he is an Afghan national working for Afghans in India.”
Currently, only one former diplomat of Afghanistan — appointed by the Ashraf Ghani government — remains in the country and has kept the mission in Delhi and the consulates in Mumbai and Hyderabad running. The others have sought refuge/ asylum in western countries after the Taliban seized control of Kabul in August 2021.
Like most of the world, India is yet to recognise the Taliban regime, making Kamil’s appointment rather curious. About the issue of recognition, a source said: “There is a set process for recognition of any government and India will continue to work with the international community on this issue.”
Sources further justified the acceptance of this arrangement on the premise that a large Afghan community is based in India and requires consular services.
“More staff is therefore required to effectively service the Afghan nationals currently residing in India,” a source said, projecting Kamil’s appointment moreas a decision taken here and not by Kabul.
Kamil’s appointment comes a week after an Indian delegation met Afghanistan’s interim defence minister Mawlavi Mohammad Yaqoob Mujahid, the son of Taliban founder Mullah Omar, in Kabul for the first time.
