Taliban appoints new Ambassador in Delhi Embassy

New Delhi, May 16: A power struggle is underway at the Afghan embassy in Delhi as Ambassador Farid Mamundzay, appointed by the previous Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, battles to stay on in office in defiance of the Taliban-run Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kabul.

 

 

 

The Taliban regime has so far taken control of about 14 missions abroad where it has posted its own nominees, but Delhi is not yet one of them. 

 

 

 

But that may be about to change, going by the conflict at the embassy, pitting Mamundzay against another diplomat in his team who has been appointed Charge d’affaires. Aware of the infighting at the embassy that erupted at the end of April, the MEA has not taken sides. Sources said it had conveyed to both sides that it was an internal matter that they needed to settle by themselves, which is being read as a signal that Delhi is open to the idea of a Taliban-appointed diplomat. Matters came to a head on Monday with Mamundzay issuing a press statement saying he “categorically rejects the claims from an individual claiming to have taken charge of the mission in New Delhi at the behest of the Taliban”. Mamundzay said the “individual” who claimed to have been named Charge d’affaires at the embassy by the Taliban was “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”. He was referring to a letter that was published by TOLO News on Sunday by a purported “representative of Afghans based in India” accusing the Ambassador and others at the embassy of “corruption” in a lease agreement. The “individual” referred to in Mamundzay’s statement is Muhammed Qadir Shah, a counselor at the embassy in charge of trade. Afghan-India trade picked up after a brief lull following the August 2021 Taliban takeover. India is Afghanistan’s second biggest export destination after Pakistan and an important source of revenue for the cash-strapped regime. Shah is the point man in Delhi for this.

 

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Sources at the embassy said that late last month, while Mamundzay was away in London where his family lives in exile, the embassy received communication appointing Shah Charge d’affaires. The sources said that this was not the first email from the Taliban government on staffing and personnel issues, but the embassy, which still flies the flag of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, always ignored them.