عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
World

Afghan Embassy in India Suspends Operations, Diplomats from Govt before Taliban Leave

Security personnel stand guard outside Afghanistan embassy in New Delhi. Afghanistan envoy to India Farid Mamundzay said the nation’s embassy in India will be closed down by 30 September. File photo/AFP
Security personnel stand guard outside Afghanistan embassy in New Delhi. Afghanistan envoy to India Farid Mamundzay said the nation’s embassy in India will be closed down by 30 September. File photo/AFP
TT
TT

Afghan Embassy in India Suspends Operations, Diplomats from Govt before Taliban Leave

Security personnel stand guard outside Afghanistan embassy in New Delhi. Afghanistan envoy to India Farid Mamundzay said the nation’s embassy in India will be closed down by 30 September. File photo/AFP
Security personnel stand guard outside Afghanistan embassy in New Delhi. Afghanistan envoy to India Farid Mamundzay said the nation’s embassy in India will be closed down by 30 September. File photo/AFP

The Afghan embassy in India has suspended all operations after the ambassador and other senior diplomats left the country for Europe and the United States where they gained asylum, three embassy officials said on Friday.
India does not recognize the Taliban government, and closed its own embassy in Kabul after the Taliban took control in 2021, but New Delhi had allowed the ambassador and mission staff appointed by the Western-backed government of ousted Afghan President Ashraf Ghani to issue visas and handle trade matters, Reuters said.
At least five Afghan diplomats have left India, the embassy officials said. The Indian government will now take over the diplomatic compound in a caretaker capacity, one of the Afghan officials said.
Asked about the matter, an Indian foreign ministry official in New Delhi said they were looking into the developments, without giving any details.
Taliban officials in Kabul were not immediately available for comment.
India is one of a dozen countries with a small mission in Kabul to facilitate trade, humanitarian aid and medical support. Bilateral trade in 2019-2020 reached $1.5 billion, but fell drastically after the Taliban government took office.
Earlier this month hundreds of Afghan college students living in India despite the expiry of their student visas staged a demonstration in New Delhi to urge the Indian government to extend their stay.

Most Viewed

 
 
World

Trudeau in Florida to Meet Trump as Tariff Threats Loom

Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks during Question Period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada October 2, 2024. REUTERS/Blair Gable
Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks during Question Period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada October 2, 2024. REUTERS/Blair Gable
TT
TT

Trudeau in Florida to Meet Trump as Tariff Threats Loom

Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks during Question Period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada October 2, 2024. REUTERS/Blair Gable
Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks during Question Period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada October 2, 2024. REUTERS/Blair Gable

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau traveled to Florida on Friday for a dinner with Donald Trump at the president-elect's Mar-a-Lago estate, as the incoming US leader promised tariffs on Canadian imports.
The unannounced meeting came at the end of a week that has seen Canada as well as Mexico scramble to blunt the impact of Trump's trade threats, which experts have warned could also hit US consumers hard, AFP said.
A smiling Trudeau was seen exiting a hotel in West Palm Beach before arriving at Mar-a-Lago, making him the latest high-profile guest of Trump, whose impending second term -- which starts in January -- is already overshadowing the last few months of President Joe Biden's administration.
Flight trackers had first spotted a jet broadcasting the prime minister's callsign making its way to the southern US state. A Canadian government source later told AFP that the two leaders were dining together.
Trump caused panic among some of the biggest US trading partners on Monday when he said he would impose tariffs of 25 percent on Mexican and Canadian imports and 10 percent on goods from China.
He accused the countries of not doing enough to halt the "invasion" of the United States by drugs, "in particular fentanyl," and undocumented migrants.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum spoke with Trump by phone on Wednesday, though the two leaders' accounts of the conversation differed drastically.
Trump claimed that Mexico's left-wing president had "agreed to stop migration through Mexico, and into the United States, effectively closing our Southern Border."
Sheinbaum later said she had discussed US-supported anti-migration policies that have long been in place in Mexico.
She said that after that, the talks had no longer revolved around the threat of tariff hikes, downplaying the risk of a trade war.
Billions in trade
Biden warned that same day that Trump's tariff threats could "screw up" Washington's relationships with Ottawa and Mexico City.
"I think it's a counterproductive thing to do," Biden told reporters.
Trudeau did not respond to questions from the media as he returned to his hotel Friday evening after meeting with Trump.
But for Canada, the stakes of any new tariffs are high.
More than three-quarters of Canadian exports, or Can$592.7 billion ($423 billion), went to the United States last year, and nearly two million Canadian jobs are dependent on trade.
A Canadian government source told AFP that Canada is considering possible retaliatory tariffs against the United States.
Some have suggested Trump's tariff threat may be bluster, or an opening salvo in future trade negotiations. But Trudeau rejected those views when he spoke with reporters earlier in Prince Edward Island province.

"Donald Trump, when he makes statements like that, he plans on carrying them out," Trudeau said. "There's no question about it."
According to the website Flightradar, the Canadian leader's plane landed at Palm Beach International Airport late Friday afternoon.
Canadian public broadcaster CBC said that Trudeau's public safety minister, Dominic LeBlanc, was accompanying him on the trip.