New Delhi: In the midst of constricting sanctions and increasing isolation by the West for its invasion of Ukraine, Russia on Saturday completed the official handover of the Afghanistan embassy in Moscow to the Taliban. Jamal Garwal who was accredited in late March 2022 as Charge d’Affaires in Afghanistan Embassy in Moscow took charge and the Islamist group’s flag was hoisted inside the mission premises.
“Today, the Afghan Embassy in Moscow was handed over to an IEA-appointed diplomat. The MoFA (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) of IEA (Islamic Emirates Arabic) expresses gratitude to the government of the Russian Federation for accrediting the Afghan diplomat and facilitating the role of the Afghan Embassy in ensuring bilateral relations and providing timely services to its citizens in Russia”, said Abdul Qahar Balkhi, spokesperson, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Afghanistan.
Balkhi also said, “As the legitimate government of Afghanistan, the IEA is entitled to managing Afghan political missions abroad and engaging responsibly with the world.”
Moscow’s move is a result of a series of talks with the Taliban since last year when it took over Kabul in August. But the talks started gaining momentum January onwards.
“We do not rule out that Kabul may send several junior and middle-level diplomats to reinforce the staff of the Afghan embassy in Moscow. Some of its diplomats, as we have heard, have already quit their jobs and even left Russia,” Kabulov said.
Subsequently, Garwal was sent to Moscow in February, and in March during the talks on Afghanistan that were hosted by China in Tunxi, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said, the international community must engage with the Taliban government in Kabul.
“We are convinced that the international community should actively cooperate with Afghanistan’s new government, encouraging steps aimed at its official recognition by the UN and all its participants,” Lavrov said in that meeting which was attended by Taliban’s acting foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi.
After that meeting, Lavrov had visited India to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval.
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Russia denies official recognition
While Moscow has officially accredited that Taliban diplomat, Russia’s Foreign Ministry has said this cannot be considered as “official recognition” of the regime.
“It would be premature to talk about recognising the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. However, I must note that the regime change in Kabul has not signalled any pause in the diplomatic contacts between our countries. We had contact with the Taliban movement even before it came to power. It is business as usual for the Russian Embassy in Afghanistan, while the members of the Afghan diplomatic mission in Moscow were appointed by the previous government,” Maria Zakharova, spokesperson, Russian Foreign Ministry said last week.
She also said that the Foreign Ministry had “sent a note to the Government of Afghanistan officially recognising Jamal Garwal as Afghanistan’s charge d’affaires in Moscow. We view this as a step towards resuming full bilateral diplomatic contacts.”
Zakharova said this was done because Garwal’s predecessor Said Jawad has completed his tenure in Moscow.
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Taliban needs Western recognition, say experts
While India is yet to officially comment on the matter, experts believe that New Delhi needs to be cautious about Moscow’s move.
A former foreign secretary called Russia’s decision a “back door recognition” that will “rile” the West.
However, according to Rakesh Sood, former Indian envoy to Afghanistan, the Taliban will have to ultimately “seek recognition from the West as that’s where the money will come from. Their actions on girls’ education have further restricted that option. The timing, however, of the step taken by Russia is only a reflection of its growing differences with the West.”
Sood said, with Russia, China, Iran, and some other countries keeping their embassies open since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan on 15 August 2021 meant that the diplomatic ties amongst these countries never got impacted.
Meanwhile, on April 5, the Special Representatives and Special Envoys of the European Union (EU), France, Germany, Italy, Norway, the United Kingdom (UK), and the United States (US) met in Brussels on April 5 to discuss the situation in Afghanistan and they reaffirmed that the Taliban’s decision to deny Afghan girls right to education will further defer the process of recognition.
(Edited by: Manoj Ramachandran)
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