The Iranian Foreign Ministry plans to hand over the Afghan Embassy in Tehran to the Afghan interim government after months of negotiations, according to unofficial sources.
Iran will officially hand over the embassy to the Taliban in the coming days according to an Afghan diplomat who has been in contact with the officials of the Iranian foreign ministry. A serious decision has been made in this regard, the diplomat added.
Previously, Afghanistan’s foreign ministry in a letter stated that Mohammad Afzal Haqqani was appointed as the ambassador to Iran. The letter noted that Haqqani, as the first secretary of the embassy, will be in charge of the diplomatic mission in Iran.
Initially, Haqqani had traveled from Tehran to Kabul and then returned with his letter of appointment as head of the Afghan Embassy in Tehran. However, the Iranian Foreign Ministry had not accepted Haqqani as the new ambassador to Tehran. Now, a serious decision has been taken in this regard the Afghan diplomat said.
The Taliban-run administration has neither internal legitimacy nor international recognition. So far, no single country in the world has recognized the Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan.
Iran is the third country to join Pakistan and Russia which handed over the Afghan embassies to the group a few months ago.
Unlike the Taliban’s first spell from 1996-2001, this time, Iran has maintained close ties with Afghanistan’s de facto authorities. Since the hasty withdrawal of America, Iran has kept its embassy operation in Kabul and has actively engaged with the Taliban regime.
Besides, delivering humanitarian aid to the people of Afghanistan during these difficult times, Iranian officials have repeatedly called on the Afghan caretaker regime to form an all-inclusive government, in which all ethnicities and political groups could see them represented.