Months after the Embassy of Afghanistan in New Delhi was shut down due to an apparent lack of coordination and desertion of officials belonging to the pre-Taliban government in Kabul, a senior Indian diplomat on March 23 visited the mission and met with Afghan officials who have apparently been working there.
The information was shared by Zakia Wardak, consul general of Afghanistan in the Afghan consulate in Mumbai, on her social media handle at X (formerly Twitter) which showed J.P. Singh, in charge of Pakistan-Afghanistan-Iran (PAI) division in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), in company of the Afghan officials that included Ms. Wardak.
Significantly, the meeting came just a day after Ms. Wardak visited Gujarat University to meet with Afghan students who were assaulted by local miscreants who had objected to their offering Islamic prayers during the holy month of Ramzan.
Ms. Wardak said, “It was an absolute pleasure hosting Honorable J.P. Singh, joint secretary PAI Division, his deputy, Ms. Deepti Jharwal, and Professor Abdul Khaliq Rashi at our Embassy in New Delhi. Our meeting on Afghanistan and India fund was productive. Mr. Singh highlighted India’s longstanding support for Afghanistan and expressed gladness at the Embassy’s operations.”
Ms. Wardak was appointed as the Consul General of Afghanistan under the government of President Ashraf Ghani but chose to serve in the Afghan missions in India after several Afghan diplomats, including the then ambassador Farid Mamundzay left for western countries.
The Ministry of External Affairs is yet to give an answer to The Hindu’s questions on the “India fund” that Ms. Wardak has mentioned.
The Afghan embassy in New Delhi was shut down in November 2023 in the backdrop of bickering among the serving Afghan diplomats and allegations of corruption and financial mismanagement. Subsequently, Ms. Wardak and some of her colleagues took over the consular work in the missions in Delhi, Mumbai, and Hyderabad as India continued to maintain contact with the Taliban without upgrading the ties to formal diplomatic level.
It is understood that the presence of a female diplomat among the Afghan officials in India has found appreciation from the Indian side as the treatment of women by the Taliban in Afghanistan continues to be a matter of grave international concern. The meeting between Ms. Wardak and Mr. Singh is notable also as it came a day after Mr. Singh was met by the U.S. Special Representative on Afghanistan Thomas West who also met with Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra. After the meeting, Mr. West said in a message, that the two sides “exchanged views on development of a unified approach in support of collective interests”.
Earlier, J.P. Singh visited Kabul on March 7 where he led an Indian delegation to a meeting with the Taliban ‘Foreign Minister’ Amir Khan Muttaqi. During the meeting, Mr. Muttaqi expressed Taliban’s gratitude for the humanitarian assistance that India has extended since the Taliban came to power through an armed struggle in August 2021. Mr. Singh had also thanked Kabul for fighting narcotics smuggling and the Islamic State – Khorasan Province (ISKP).
The headlines generated by this meeting were however overshadowed by an attack on Afghan students in the hostel premises of the Gujarat University on March 16 where Afghan and African students were assaulted by a group of locals who objected to the prayers for the month of Ramzan that the students were offering. Nearly two dozen attackers barged into the hostel in Ahmedabad and ransacked the rooms and items belonging to the students. On Thursday, Ms. Wardak visited the office of the Vice Chancellor of Gujarat University to assess the situation first hand. “Met with Police Commissioner Gyanendrasingh Malik to discuss security arrangements for international students. Assured of thorough investigation and justice for the victims. Also had a productive discussions with Dr. Neerja, Vice-Chancellor of Gujarat University, and Mr. Surender Kumar, head of Gujarat University ICCR. Emphasised the importance of a safe and inclusive environment of all students,” Ms. Wardak said after the visit to the Gujarat University. The MEA had earlier informed that strict action was being taken against the individuals who orchestrated the attack on the international students.
