Afghan Embassy staff have been given a 90-day deadline to either leave the UK or stay in the country.
The British government has decided to close the Afghan Embassy in London and will not transfer control to the Taliban, Afghanistan International reports. In an official letter, the UK’s Foreign Office notified Zalmay Rassoul, the Afghan Ambassador to the UK, of the decision.
According to reliable sources, the ambassador was summoned to the UK Foreign Office on Friday, September 6, and was informed that the embassy will be closed on September 27. The Taliban had spent months pressuring the embassy to cooperate with their Foreign Ministry but eventually declared that the embassy’s consular services were no longer valid. This move by the Taliban seems to have influenced the UK’s decision to shut down the embassy.
The UK Foreign Office has confirmed that the embassy will not be handed over to Taliban representatives, and the premises will remain closed for the foreseeable future. Embassy staff have been given a 90-day deadline to either leave the UK or stay in the country.
The closure of the embassy creates significant challenges for Afghan migrants in the UK, as it limits their access to consular services, such as the notarization of documents. The UK has one of the largest Afghan migrant populations in Europe, and this decision is expected to cause considerable difficulties for them.
In response, the Taliban has urged Afghan citizens living in the UK to seek consular services from embassies in Europe that collaborate with their administration. However, the German government has rejected this request, citing the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. A German news outlet revealed that the German Foreign Office has communicated with the Taliban’s Foreign Ministry, agreeing to let the Afghan Consulate in Munich provide services to Afghans living in Germany.
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This marks the second closure of an Afghan embassy in Western countries, following the U.S. decision to shut down the Afghan Embassy in Washington, D.C. Zalmay Rassoul, who has resisted Taliban pressure for the past three years, now faces uncertainty about his future role after the embassy’s closure.
Rassoul, a veteran diplomat, previously served as Afghanistan’s Foreign Minister and National Security Advisor during Hamid Karzai’s presidency before being appointed ambassador to the UK in 2020. His next steps after the embassy closure remain unclear.
