The Afghanistan embassy in India, which was a supporter of the previous West-backed administration, has announced its closure and stated that it stopped conducting business on October 1.
In a statement, the Afghan embassy said that it sought to establish a deal with the Indian government to protect the rights of Afghans who reside, work, study, and conduct business in India.
United Nations’ refugee agency stated that Afghans account for around one-third of the nearly 40,000 refugees registered in India. But that figure excludes those who are not registered with the UN.
“There has been a significant reduction in both personnel and resources available to us, making it increasingly challenging to continue operations,” the statement said.
The shutdown comes more than two years after the US withdrew its soldiers from Afghanistan after 20 years of war and occupation, precipitating the fall of President Ashraf Ghani's administration.
“It is with profound sadness, regret, and disappointment that the Embassy of Afghanistan in New Delhi announces this decision to cease its operations,” the embassy said.
The decision was taken due to lack of “crucial support” from India which has hampered the embassy’s capacity to carry out the embassy’s duties, read the statement. There were also shortcomings in meeting the expectations to best serve Afghani citizens due to “the absence of a legitimate functioning government in Kabul”, read the statement, referring to the Taliban administration.
The decision to close came as a result of rumours that the ambassador and other senior officials had just left India due to squabbling among those who remained in New Delhi. However, the embassy denied claims of internal conflict among its employees, emphasising that they were "unfounded" rumours.