The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) spent 2023 also with the crisis of lack of international legitimacy and could not secure Afghanistan seat at the United Nations.

The international community also kept sanctions on the Islamic Emirate this year due to its restrictions on women and girls.

In 2023, however, the Islamic Emirate made progress in diplomacy with some countries, and China, became the first country to formally name a new ambassador to Afghanistan since the IEA takeover.

This year, the interaction of the Afghan embassies with the Islamic Emirate also continued, and in October, the Afghan embassies in the Netherlands and Spain announced their engagement with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kabul. At the end of this year, diplomats having contacts with the Islamic Emirate took control of the Afghan embassy in India.

Meanwhile, Iran, Afghanistan’s western neighbor, had tense relations with the Islamic Emirate over the issue of water rights from Helmand River.

Pakistan also had tense relations with the Islamic Emirate this year due to the alleged presence of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in Afghanistan, a charge which Kabul denies.

The relations deteriorated to a level that Islamabad started the process of forced repatriation of more than one million Afghan refugees from Pakistan.

Experts believe that the neighboring and regional countries have not yet been able to agree on a specific policy for engagement with the Islamic Emirate. According to them, this requires the implementation of the conditions of the international community, including the formation of an inclusive government and respect for the rights of women and girls and ethnic and religious minorities by the Islamic Emirate.

In 2023, the cabinet of the Islamic Emirate also remained as caretaker. The return of former government officials and politicians to the country continued, and hundreds returned to the country through the relevant commission.

However, the Islamic Emirate calls 2023 a year full of achievements and emphasizes that this year progress has been made in all fields, especially in expanding relations with other countries.

The spokesman of the Islamic Emirate, however, considers the reason for the lack of international legitimacy to be the actions of certain countries, which he believes also have upper hand in the United Nations.

Although the Islamic Emirate has established diplomatic relations with about 20 countries, no country has officially recognized it as the government of Afghanistan.