Why this decision of Saudi Arabia is bad news for Afghanistan and Taliban
Officials and staff of the Saudi Arabian embassy in Afghanistan left Kabul last week.
A source in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Taliban government has confirmed this in a conversation with BBC Pashto.
News agency Reuters has also quoted sources as saying that the officers and employees of the Saudi Embassy have been sent to Pakistan for security reasons.
Reuters quoted a diplomatic source as saying that Saudi diplomats left Kabul last week and went to Pakistan because there was a threat of attack on them in Kabul.
Earlier, there were reports in the media that diplomats from several countries, including the United Arab Emirates (UAE), have left Kabul.
However, the Foreign Ministry of the Taliban government says that UAE diplomats have not been living in Kabul for the last two years.
The Taliban say that the matter of diplomats of any other country leaving Kabul is just a rumour.
What do Taliban have to say?
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told the BBC, “Some diplomatic officials from the Saudi embassy have gone to their country for training and will soon return to Kabul.”
He declined to elaborate further and did not respond when asked why all Saudi diplomats went to training at the same time.
Many people from Afghanistan are applying for visa in Saudi Arabian Embassy to go on Umrah (a religious pilgrimage of Muslims to Mecca in Saudi Arabia) but now there is no one to help them in Saudi Embassy .
When news agency Reuters wanted to know about this from Pakistan, Pakistani officials asked them to contact the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Islamabad.
But in all this, no official statement has come from Saudi Arabia yet.
Saudi consulate also closed
On the other hand, another source in the Taliban Foreign Ministry told BBC Pashto that the Saudi consulate in Kabul was also closed on Monday.
This source says that no official information has been given to the Taliban about the closure of the embassy.
He has only been told informally that diplomats from several other embassies including Saudi Arabia have left Kabul.
The BBC’s Pashto correspondent Saeed Anwar says that although Taliban spokespersons are saying that Saudi diplomats have gone to their country for training, most people in Afghanistan believe that they have left Kabul for security reasons.
The Russian embassy has reduced its presence in Kabul, but Russia’s special envoy for Afghanistan Zamir Kabalov recently said that Russia has no intention of closing its embassy in Kabul at the moment.
In 2021, the US-led coalition forces left Afghanistan, after which in August 2021, the Taliban once again captured the power of Afghanistan.
Since then, many countries are running their own embassy in Afghanistan from Pakistan and Qatar. America and western countries have not yet reopened their embassies in Kabul.
security issue in kabul
December 2, 2022 – Pakistan’s ambassador Obaidur Rahman Nizami was attacked in Kabul. He was not harmed in this, but one of his security personnel was seriously injured in this attack.
On the same day, the office of Hezb-e-Islami was attacked by some gunmen when the head of Hezb-e-Islami, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, was delivering the Friday sermon.
His security personnel had killed both the attackers. These attackers were also told of the ISIS-Khorasan faction.
December 12, 2022 – Chinese citizens living in a hotel located in the heart of the city were attacked. After this attack, the ISIS-Khorasan faction issued a statement claiming responsibility for the attack and said that they targeted Chinese citizens as part of an act of revenge.
The Islamic State-affiliated mouthpiece Al-Naba wrote on December 15 that Chinese citizens present in Kabul were attacked in retaliation for alleged Chinese atrocities on Uighur Muslims in China’s Xinjiang province.
September 05, 2022 – A suicide bomber blew himself up at the entrance of the Russian Embassy in Kabul, killing two Russian citizens and four Afghan citizens.
The ISIS-Khorasan faction took responsibility for the attack.
The Taliban say that they are fully committed to dealing with the Islamic State and other threats and that they will take all possible steps to provide full security to foreigners living in Afghanistan.
ISIS-Khorasan
The extremist organization (IS), which calls itself the Islamic State, had announced in the year 2015 that it had opened its branch in Afghanistan-Pakistan.
This branch was named ISIS-Khorasan Province.
Hafiz Saeed Khan, a former Taliban commander, was made the head of this branch.
According to IS, it includes Afghanistan, Pakistan and other areas ‘nearby’.
This organization has been challenging the Taliban and Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan since that time.
Why the failure to contain ISIS-Khorasan
Senior political analyst Halim Fidai, who served as governor of four provinces in the Afghan government before the Taliban, says that the Taliban have failed to provide security to both Afghan citizens and foreigners.
Talking to BBC, he said that at present, not only IS-Khorasan, but many other extremist organizations are also active in Afghanistan.
According to him, Taliban has ideological agreement with all those organizations, due to which they do not take decisive action against those organizations.
He says that there is a difference of opinion within the Taliban itself. IS-Khorasan and other organizations fought (2001-2021) together with the Taliban against the Government of Afghanistan, so now the Taliban cannot take action against them after coming to power.
They say that the Taliban are working at the behest of Pakistan. He alleges that Pakistan’s army wants to completely isolate Afghanistan at the international level, so that its own agenda can be implemented.
Senior diplomat Rakesh Sood, who was India’s ambassador to Afghanistan, also says that not only ISIS-Khorasan, but about 20 organizations declared extremist by the UN are active in Afghanistan at present.
Rakesh Sood says that there is no consensus among the Taliban on how to deal with extremist organizations operating in Afghanistan.
According to him, the reason for the failure to control other extremist organizations including ISIS-Khorasan is also the ideological similarity of Taliban and their ability to take military action against those organizations is also under doubt.
Recognition of Taliban will be more difficult
When the Taliban gained power in Afghanistan for the first time in the 90s (1996), Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Pakistan were the only three countries that recognized them at that time.
Since their return to power in 2021, no country has officially recognized the Taliban, but some countries, including Pakistan, Russia, China, Turkey and Iran, have maintained their diplomatic presence in Kabul.
Taliban has been seeking approval from the international world for the last year and a half, but so far it has failed.
According to Halim Fidai, after this latest decision of Saudi Arabia, it has become almost impossible for Taliban to get international recognition.
Halim Fidai believes that even if a country thinks of giving recognition to the Taliban, it will go against it because the Taliban seem to be more radical in the matter of human rights of women, minorities and other Afghan citizens than before.
Time of crisis for the Taliban regime
Rakesh Sood also says that this decision of Saudi Arabia is very bad news for Taliban.
According to him, in 2021, none of the assurances that the Taliban had given to the international world, they have not fulfilled.
According to Rakesh Sood, even though no one accepts the Taliban legally, but due to the presence of the embassy, the international world maintains contact with the Taliban.
According to him, if the people of the embassy start leaving Kabul due to security reasons, then any kind of contact with the Taliban will be broken and in such a situation the question of getting recognition does not arise.
