The Indian government, through its Minister of External Affairs, the seasoned diplomat Ambassador Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, has announced its decision to maintain its embassy in Kabul. He said that it’s also the intention of the Indian government to keep the embassy operational without an ambassador designate. However, he did not foreclose a future change in decision, saying that events in Afghanistan were still in their early stages and that India would continue to monitor situations in that country.
Amb. Jaishankar also spoke on what India will do and what it has done to support the people of Afghanistan through food and health relief.
The minister said these while speaking at an event held at the India International Center. The event provided an opportunity to clear the air on India’s position on the ongoing events in Afghanistan.
“At this time in Afghanistan, we have what we had. So, we have decided that we will maintain an embassy, but not at the ambassador level yet. A lot of other countries have done it, but I should tell you that a lot of countries have sent back their ambassadors; we have not done so, and we have focused on areas that we believe will impact the Afghan people and will be recognized by the Afghan people. So, it was food support initially; it was providing vaccines; it was providing medicines to a hospital that we built many years ago out there. That is broadly where we are at this stage, but how do we go further? I think we will have to wait and see”, Amb. Jaishankar said.
Earlier, the Afghan government had beckoned on the Indian government, asking them to reopen their embassy in Kabul and keep it active. They also gave a cover of guarantee to the Indian government, saying that neither the Indian representation nor its staff would be in danger in Kabul.
The spokesman for the Afghan government, Zabihullah Mujahid, spoke about India and urged them to open the embassy while assuring them of relative peace in Afghanistan.
“They should open their embassies. We assure them that there is no danger to them in Afghanistan, and we will cooperate in this regard. India’s diplomatic cooperation through the embassy is possible, and they may be in contact with us more, and the two nations’ trust can increase”, the spokesman said.
The Indian government called back its ambassador designate in Kabul following a series of events that led to the fall of the previous government after the U.S. troops stationed in the country withdrew. Since then, India has shown less interest in fully activating its embassy in the Afghan capital.
Recently, the Indian government, through its Ministry of Foreign Affairs, sent a team of experts to its embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, with the mission of finding ways to solve prevailing issues between the two countries.
