New Delhi: Nine months after the collapse of the Ashraf Ghani government in Afghanistan and the takeover by the Taliban, the Afghan Embassy and its consulates in India are caught between a rock and a hard place. While the Embassy has no official status, it continues to function at its bare minimum so much so that it has reduced its staff by half.
In an exclusive interview with ETV Bharat's Saurabh Sharma, Ambassador Farid Mamundzay who heads the embassy spoke in detail about the crisis they have undergone in the last nine months and the support they have received from India during the period. India, the Ambassador said was extremely supportive and ensured respect and dignity of its staff members when many across the embassies around the world were treated unfairly. He, however, underscored that New Delhi rejecting visas to stranded Afghan students was "extremely disappointing".
Here are excerpts from the interview:
ETB: At this critical point in time, what does this embassy represents now with no formal status?
Amb: We represent a landmass that we no longer control. Our mission in Delhi and our many other missions abroad have a very clear mandate. Serve to whatever point we could serve our people. We will continue to do so and maintain this flag (the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan) and we will stick to the values of a democratic society and the constitution that protected the rights of all Afghans.
In the last 10 months, there is no country that has given them (Taliban) the recognition. Our missions across the world are pressure points for the Taliban to deny them legitimacy. We would continue to oppose them until there is freedom of speech, freedom for women, minorities, and the entire society, and political freedom for non-Taliban factions. Taliban has now returned to its old policy of brutality against women by denying them education, attacks have increased there, and half of the society is purposely being made illiterate, which in the long run would pave a way for making the country a hotbed for terrorism.
ETB: What's your response to the visa policy being issued by New Delhi for the stranded Afghan students and others?
Amb: India has always been our dear friend. Be it providing us the humanitarian assistance in the time of crisis including 50000MT of Wheat, 10000MT of life-saving medicines, winter clothes however New Delhi issuing just 200 visas to Afghan students in 2021 was extremely disappointing. We are a nation of 40 million people. When the US, being 10,000 miles away, could evacuate 1,80,000 Afghans in three weeks, India, which is less than 400 miles away, our most reliable and most strategic partner in the region, is turning its back to Afghan people by not granting visas.
Each year, about 50,000 Afghans visited India for medical reasons. A lot of people require medical care but now they are compelled to go somewhere else. As such, this policy needs to be reconsidered and changed. India and Afghanistan have this people-to-people connection. We consider India a dear friend. Afghans have a soft corner for India.
We still have a large number of bona fide students who are in their first, second, or in the final year of studies and have been stranded in Kabul and whose visas were revoked after the Taliban's took over. They were not allowed by the Indian government to return to India to resume their education. They were students. They did not become Taliban overnight. On 15 August 2021, they had valid visas, on 16 their visas were cancelled. They were mistreated. We have been consistently requesting the Government of India over the past 10 months that these students should continue their studies here in India. We expect a change of policy on the visa issue and we hope that the government would relax these measures.
ETB: Has New Delhi given the embassy any assurance of financial assistance?
Amb: We have received the required moral support from the Indian government. They have been very kind to us. We’ve been treated with great respect and dignity at a time when many of our staff across the embassies around the world were not treated fairly. We are grateful for the assistance given to us by the MEA. Sustaining a Mission representing a sovereign country is largely the responsibility of the Mission itself. The question that arises here is if and why we need our presence here?
We represent the landmass and the region, not the present government. We represent almost 40 million people. The necessity of the existence of this mission is crucial. There was a humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan. Given India's willingness to help our people, we coordinated with the Indian government to the extent that we were able to send half a million Covid-19 vaccine doses, facilitate the transport of 50,000MT of wheat, almost 10,000MT of life-saving drugs and other necessary items during winters. Various Indian NGOs sent warm clothes. We facilitated the transport so our presence for humanitarian reasons was required along with the efforts in several other areas including trade and commerce
India is our largest trading partner. Our trade was touching USD 1.5 billion. It majorly helped the farmers. The trade largely remains undisrupted and India has been very supportive of us in this domain. Trade is our second area of focus. The third area of focus is education. There are close to 15,000 students studying in India, and many of them are on scholarships. At the start of this year, the ICCR had removed Afghanistan from its portal and we had to request them to add us back. As such, our presence is required to ensure the continuity of education support to Afghan students. India has been generous to us. This year, we have been offered 1,000 scholarships, 600 of which have been materialized. Last year, almost 200 tech courses for Afghan nationals were granted and around 800 people benefitted from the programmes.
ETB: The attacks near the Durand line between Taliban and Pakistan Security Forces have increased. How do you view this and what's your reaction on the security threats it poses to South Asia?
Amb: The increase in the number of attacks by the Pakistani forces is clearly visible. Now the situation at the Durand Line has become extremely volatile. Pakistan's army is targeting civilian areas in Afghanistan and that is something Pakistan has been doing for years. There are people in the tribal areas who are unhappy with the Pakistani military and many who fled Pakistan after suffering heavy casualties. Even those are now being targeted by the Pakistan forces inside Afghanistan. We are witnessing a sudden spike in the attacks in the tribal areas, Balochistan and others. We have been telling Pakistan for years that we need to resolve the situation.
ETB: Do you think the war in Ukraine has overshadowed the Afghan crisis?
Amb: Absolutely. Even the humanitarian assistance we used to get is now being transferred to Ukraine. West is largely focused on Ukraine now. Afghanistan is no longer a priority. Even resources allocated to Afghanistan are channeled back to Ukraine.
ETB: What is the official status of the Embassy now in New Delhi and its consulates in Mumbai and Hyderabad?
Amb: We have been going through challenging times during the course of the last 10 months. We have to significantly reduce the number of people who worked at the missions. We have reduced the workforce from 40 to 20 officials. We had to take such measures not only in Delhi, but in Mumbai and Hyderabad as well. We have reduced all the major expenses including restricting the number of colleagues working in one office or minimizing the number of office spaces. As for sustaining through this, we do generate some revenue via consular services, passport extension, renewal verification of documents. Such services have largely been the lifeline of the mission. Also, we own a lot of properties in India and we don't have to pay rent. That is a big plus point that helps us sustain ourselves. Bills, food etc. are largely covered by consular services. We can sustain for some time. There is not much pressure.
ETB: Do you think New Delhi should now engage with the Taliban regime?
Amb: I think there is no harm in engaging with the Taliban but the important thing is the modalities and the messages of engagement given India's stature as a regional power. India can use its influence to pressurize the Taliban to display a greater sense of responsibility toward Afghanistan. Delhi's message would certainly help. Delhi has a lot of influence in the region. We have a shared future, incidents in Kabul have direct implications for Delhi. We have seen the Taj hotel, Pulwama, Pathankot, and other attacks. The growth of terrorism in Afghanistan has direct implications for Delhi.
ETB: Apart from Russia, China, Pakistan, Iran, and Turkmenistan accrediting the Taliban officials in recent months, no other country has built any relation with the so-called Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, what's your take on this?
Amb: All of these countries have their own security concerns so they are now engaging with the Taliban diplomatically without officially recognizing it. For example, China needs to engage with the Taliban to keep track of the movement of ETIM (East Turkestan Islamic movement) which is a major threat to China in the Xinjiang region. They know the Taliban is close to the group. We have been saying this to the whole world that the Taliban and other terror groups have a symbiotic relationship. The growth of ETIM is based on the growth of the Taliban. If the Taliban grows, the other terror groups including Jaish-e-Mohammad, Lashkar-e-Taiba and others, are bound to grow.
ETB: Ho do you see India-Afghanistan relations under Taliban?
Amb: Whenever, we have a government elected by the people and with the people's mandate, we have had excellent relations with Delhi. Whenever we had a government driven by religious fundamentalism, they did not maintain the relationship. I don't think the relationship between India and the Taliban would be as cordial as it was with the Republic. Relations with people would be warm and cordial not with the Taliban. For the foreseeable future, the relations seem cold.
ETB: How do you see the future of Afghanistan in the next 5 years?
Amb: We probably have the most challenging years ahead of us. These are our make-and-break years. The start of the 21st century was remarkable. We did not see major conflict or civil wars in the last 20 years but today we are gradually heading towards civil war if the Taliban fails to display a sense of responsibility. The road ahead is extremely dangerous.
