A State Department official has confirmed that the Afghan embassy in Washington, D.C., may close next week due to severe financial pressures and a lack of ties to the Taliban government. The State Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP that diplomats at the Afghan embassy had one month to apply for a visa to stay in the United States before being expelled. To do.
He says even if the diplomat is expelled, he will not be transferred to Afghanistan and will be transferred to another third country, but did not name the third country.
About 100 diplomats work at embassies in Washington and consulates in Los Angeles and New York. A quarter of those diplomats have not yet applied to stay in the United States, the official said.
“The Afghan embassy is under severe financial pressure and does not have access to bank accounts,” he said.
The official said the State Department, in cooperation with the Afghan embassy, was working to close the embassy’s operations in a way that would secure the assets of the diplomatic mission in the United States until it resumed operations. Be saved
The official also said that “they do not currently intend to issue credentials to diplomats appointed by the Taliban.” He said the US government had not discussed with the Taliban the closure of the Afghan embassy in Washington.
The Taliban came to power in August 2021 and the international community has not yet recognized their government. Appointed diplomats are considered active and committed to the republic. But their bank accounts are closed, and they have no access to the hundreds of thousands of dollars in the banks.
A source at the Afghan embassy in Washington, D.C., recently told VOA that the US government had closed the embassy and two consulate accounts at Citibank.
While Nasir Ahmad Fayek is currently Afghanistan’s representative to the United Nations, he is a Republican-era diplomat. The Taliban has also nominated a representative for the seat, but the United Nations has not been identified.
