Tussle over leadership of Afghan mission in New Delhi
India, like countries around the world, doesn’t officially recognise the Taliban setup that assumed power in August 2021.
The Afghan embassy in the Indian capital has become the setting of a tussle between diplomats of the former republic and the current administration in Kabul, with the Taliban choosing an individual perceived as close to Haqqani Network leaders as chargé d’affaires.
There has been no official word from the Indian side on the differences that emerged into the open over the weekend, and people familiar with developments described the matter as an “internal affair” of Afghanistan in which New Delhi has no role. India, like countries around the world, doesn’t officially recognise the Taliban setup that assumed power in August 2021.
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Since the fall of the Ashraf Ghani government in 2021, the Afghan embassy has been run by a dwindling group of diplomats led by Farid Mamundzay, who was appointed ambassador in September 2020. Though the Taliban have made some 14 attempts over the past two years to remove the ambassador and other officials, matters apparently came to a head in April, while Mamundzay was on a visit abroad to meet his family.
Trade counsellor Qadir Shah, who too was appointed by the previous administration and sent to New Delhi in March 2020, was named “chargé d’affaires” by Taliban foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi on April 25, and another order asked Mamundzay to return to Kabul.
Shah, who till recently was clean-shaven and used to be seen in suits but has now grown a beard and discarded Western attire, sent a note verbale or unsigned diplomatic correspondence to the external affairs ministry on April 28 about the appointment, the people said. The Indian side has not said anything officially about this correspondence.
On April 29, the other Afghan diplomats refused to accept Shah as their head and evicted him from the mission. Mamundzay returned to New Delhi on May 1 and Shah has been barred from entering the mission on three occasions since then, the people said.
Shah belongs to Afghanistan’s Khost province, a stronghold of the Haqqani Network. His father Zahid Shah Angar is considered close to former Haqqani Network commander Mali Khan, a maternal uncle of senior Taliban leader Sirajuddin Haqqani. Khan is currently deputy chief of staff of the Taliban armed forces and Angar has lobbied for his son’s appointment to a top post in New Delhi, the people said.
Mamundzay declined to comment on the developments and a statement issued by the Afghan embassy on Monday rejected “claims from an individual to have taken charge of the mission...at the behest of the Taliban”. The statement added that this individual was “responsible for spreading misinformation and running a baseless and unsubstantiated campaign against officials of the mission, including totally fabricated allegations of corruption based on an unsigned letter”.
This was an apparent reference to reports in the Afghan media citing an unsigned letter from “Afghan refugees” that levelled allegations of graft against Mamundzay and other diplomats.
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The Afghan embassy statement further informed Afghan nationals that the “mission continues functioning as normal and working for their interests in India”. It also appreciated the Indian government’s consistent position on supporting the interests of the Afghan people and “not recognising the Taliban regime in Kabul, as it has been the case with democratic countries around the world”.
The people said the episode highlights the complexities involved in India’s engagement with the Taliban. Though it doesn’t recognise the setup in Afghanistan, India deployed a “technical team” to Kabul in June 2022 to re-establish a presence there. Indian officials have also gone to Kabul for meetings with top Taliban leaders such as Muttaqi and Sirajuddin Haqqani.
Currently, about 30 Afghan embassies are still run by diplomats appointed by the former regime but the Taliban have succeeded in appointing officials of their choice to missions in Pakistan, China, Russia, Iran and Uzbekistan.
