MEA faces tough choice as Taliban picks a new Ambassador for Delhi 

The Taliban regime in Afghanistan’s decision to recall Afghan Ambassador Farid Mamundzay and appoint the current Trade Counsellor Qadir Shah as the Charge D’ Affaires (Acting Ambassador) in his place has posed a tough decision for the government’s policy on the situation in Afghanistan and its engagement with the Taliban.

The Taliban regime in Afghanistan’s decision to recall Afghan Ambassador Farid Mamundzay and appoint the current Trade Counsellor Qadir Shah as the Charge D’ Affaires (Acting Ambassador) in his place has posed a tough decision for the government’s policy on the situation in Afghanistan and its engagement with the Taliban.

The tussle between the two became public on Sunday, after Afghan media outlets published a letter from Afghans based in India accusing the existing Ambassador and other officials of corruption.

In a response Mr. Mamundzay, who has been the Ambassador in India since 2020 and is presently in Delhi, issued a letter calling the allegations “one-sided, biased and untruthful”, and blaming the “collapse of the democratic system” in Afghanistan for the “extreme problems” that Afghans outside their countries face. 

However, trouble has been brewing within the Embassy over the past month, after the Taliban Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA)’s Human Resources Director issued a letter (Order No. 3578 dated April 25, 2023), recalling Ambassador Farid Mamundzay and asking him to report to the MFA in Kabul.

Another order on the same date by Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi said that Trade Counsellor Qadir Shah would “supervise affairs at the Afghanistan Embassy in Delhi, India” and report to the government in Kabul. The move appeared to mirror what the Taliban did in China in April 2022, when the serving Ambassador resigned after the Taliban appointed another senior diplomat serving in the Embassy in Beijing. 

When contacted, Mr. Shah said he was not affiliated to any “political party, group or movement”. He said he believed that in its communication the MoFA in Kabul had wished to appoint an officer to resolve issues of “complaints against Embassy officials of corruption and non-performance of their official duties”. He reiterated that he was a diplomat assigned by the pre-Taliban “Islamic Republic of Afghanistan” and an official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Afghanistan. 

The MEA has thus far declined to comment on the Taliban decision, with officials maintaining that they had not so far received formal notice of the change, and indicating that this is an “internal” matter for the Embassy.