Since the Taliban's takeover of their government in Afghanistan in August last year, several Afghan diplomats in the United States are struggling without pay and to keep the embassy open. The access to embassy accounts remains blocked as Afghan government assets had been frozen until recently.

Afghan diplomats posted in the embassy in Washington and other consulates in New York and Los Angeles have not been paid since October, reported The New York Times. The government they represented has long gone, and the new interim government of the Taliban hasn’t been recognized by any country so far. 

At least 55 Afghan diplomats and their family members are now seeking asylum before the closure of their embassy and consulates.  

“This is not something that we wanted. But it is something that came,” Abdul Hadi Nejrabi, the Afghan Embassy’s deputy chief of mission, was quoted as saying by The New York Times. “We may not be able to continue for a long time — it will come to an end,” he was quoted as saying. 

Diplomats across almost 65 countries where Afghanistan has maintained its embassies and consulates are reaching out to their host countries for independent understanding to keep the embassies open, but no one knows for how long as the Taliban government has not been recognised by any country so far. Most countries are against granting recognition to the Taliban government they consider “illegitimate.”  

However, financial pressure is building up, forcing many in leaving their residential apartments and shift to embassy compounds. 

In the US, the services to Afghans seeking help in the United States bring in $2,000 to $3,000 in fees each month, Nejrabi said, enough to keep the lights and other utilities on.  But that is not enough to pay salaries. Diplomats and their families are barely making ends meet. 

In October last year, Citibank, where the Afghan Embassy and consulates maintained their accounts, froze funds anointing to hundreds of thousands of dollars. 

Mark Evans, the State Department’s Director for Afghanistan Affairs, said their priority was to figure out a way to facilitate a soft landing for the Afghan diplomats in the United States. 

Meanwhile, the Taliban has been trying to take control of embassies through indirect means. Recently, Afghan diplomats in Beijing had surrendered their embassy under unclear circumstances. In Pakistan, Taliban officials were given charges of the embassy and consulates even without formal recognition of their government. 

 (SAM)