Islamabad: The Taliban on Tuesday disavowed many Afghan diplomatic missions overseas, saying consular services provided by them are invalid and that people in these countries need to approach Taliban-controlled embassies and consulates instead. It's the latest attempt by the Taliban to seize control over diplomatic missions staffed by the former Western-backed administration.
In a statement posted to the social media platform X, the "Ministry of Foreign Affairs" said that documents issued by missions in London, Berlin, Belgium, Bonn, Switzerland, Austria, France, Italy, Greece, Poland, Australia, Sweden, Canada and Norway are no longer valid and that the ministry “bears no responsibility” for those documents. The documents affected include passports, visa stickers, deeds and endorsements.
The ministry wrote that people in those countries will need to approach embassies and consulates controlled by the Taliban's Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan government instead.
"All Afghan nationals living abroad and foreigners can visit the IEA political and consular missions in other countries, other than the above-mentioned missions, to access consular services," it said.
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