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Former US diplomat: Sending diplomats back to Afghanistan would confer legitimacy on IEA
Amid reports of the US mulling the reopening of its consulate in Afghanistan, a former US diplomat and an Afghan diplomat have said that sending US diplomats back to Afghanistan without any concessions from the Islamic Emirate would not be neutral.
Annie Pforzheimer, former deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan, and Ashraf Haidari, Afghan ambassador to Sri Lanka (appointed by the former government), said in an opinion in The Hill that an operational US embassy in Kabul would lead to other countries opening their missions, serving as an endorsement of the IEA.
“After all, an embassy is not a newspaper bureau of independent foreign correspondents; it is an ecosystem of diplomats whose presence would confer an unearned legitimacy on the Taliban (IEA) and require a strengthening of ties,” they wrote.
They said that given ongoing security threats, U.S. diplomats would need IEA guards on the compound and armed IEA escorts to move around; those diplomats’ meetings with Afghans would be as honest as a visit to “a Soviet-era Potemkin village”.
According to them, so much has been lost since the “ill-fated” Doha Agreement was signed four years ago.
“The only lever of international suasion remaining rests with diplomatic recognition and paths to power and money, which the Taliban want to possess without changing their ideology or repression,” they wrote.
They called on the U.S. and like-minded countries to strengthen their commitment to the Afghan people, rather than to concede to the IEA.
They said that the future UN special envoy’s nearly impossible job is to be the voice of a unitary international position on Afghanistan.
Earlier, VOA reported that the United States is reviewing the possibility of reopening its consulate in Afghanistan under the Islamic Emirate rule without formally recognizing it as a government.
US officials, however, rejected the report.
UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan and head of UNAMA, Roza Otunbayeva, is expected to brief the UN Security Council on the situation in Afghanistan on Wednesday after UNAMA released its quarterly report Tuesday.
Tanja Fajon, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia, will preside over the meeting.
UNAMA’s latest report, which includes information gathered after the last report dated June 13, states that security incidents have increased against the same period last year; restrictions on women have increased, and almost more than 24 million people still need humanitarian aid.
The Islamic Emirate, meanwhile, expects that the reality of Afghanistan should be reflected in Otunbayeva’s report.
IEA has already asked UNAMA many times to reflect on the realities of Afghanistan in its reports and to refrain from exaggerating small issues.
Otunbayeva stated in her last report that by August 30 of this year, only 24.9 percent of the $2.9 billion dollars required for aid to Afghanistan had been provided.
Acting Minister of Interior Affairs Sirajuddin Haqqani met on Tuesday with the Japanese Ambassador to Kabul,Takayoshi Kuromiya, the ministry said in a statement.
Abdul Matin Qane, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Interior, said in a post on X that apart from expressing satisfaction over the improved security situation, they discussed boosting Japan's aid to Afghanistan.
They also discussed a working group with UNAMA to tackle issues related to narcotics.
A spokesman for Afghanistan’s foreign affairs said Tuesday Islamic Emirate diplomats have been posted to Oman to reopen the Afghanistan embassy.
Hafiz Zia Ahmad Takal said in a post on X the embassy in Muscat opened last Sunday.
Takal added that resuming the activities of the Afghan embassy with the cooperation of the host country will play a constructive role in strengthening political, economic, social and religious relations between Kabul and Muscat.
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