Key Points
- The Taliban says it will not recognise consular documents issued by Afghan embassies in Canberra and 13 other cities.
- The Afghan Embassy in Australia said it remained committed to providing consular services.
- It said the changes violated international rules and Afghan laws.
The Afghan embassy in Canberra has criticised the Taliban for leaving Afghan diaspora communities in the lurch after the group announced it would no longer recognise consular documents issued by missions from the former republic.
Since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in 2021, embassies including in Australia, run by the government of exiled leader Ashraf Ghani, have been operating without formal relations with the Taliban, despite offering some regular consular services to Afghans residing in Australia.
On Tuesday night, the Taliban's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it would no longer accept documents such as passports, visa stickers, deeds and endorsements issued by the embassy in Canberra, as well as 13 other Afghan embassies including in the UK, Switzerland, Belgium, Austria, France, Italy, Greece, Poland, Norway and Canada.
It said Afghans abroad, including in Australia, will now have to travel to Spain, the Netherlands, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, or Munich for those services.
"The actions of most of the missions are carried out in without coordination, arbitrarily and in explicit violation of the existing accepted principles," the Taliban’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
Responding to the announcement, the Afghan Embassy in Australia said it remained committed to providing consular services, describing the changes as violating international rules and Afghan laws.
It said diplomatic missions cannot provide consular services which are outside their area of responsibility.
"Issuance of documents by a diplomatic and consular mission to another country is not enforceable and will create serious problems for the citizens of the country," the embassy said in a statement.
"Regrettably, through their miscalculated and short-sighted actions, the Taliban have repeatedly created problems for Afghan refugees and citizens who reside outside their country."
The Australian government does not recognise the Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan. While it no longer designates the Taliban as a terrorist group, Australia has imposed United Nations sanctions on the Taliban.
The Afghan Embassy in Canberra said the Taliban's actions would "create serious problems" for Afghan citizens. Credit: Afghan Embassy
Niamatullah Ibrahimi, a senior lecturer in international relations at La Trobe University, said the Taliban was trying to pressure Afghan missions run by the former government, by cutting off a funding source.
He said the Taliban had for years been trying to gain control of embassies in not only Australia but other European countries, after achieving some success over the missions in Pakistan, Iran, Russia and China.
But Ibrahimi said the decision would most negatively affect newly arrived Afghan refugees who did not want to return to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, and non-Afghans wishing to travel to Afghanistan.
"It will create a lot of confusion and distress from those members of the community who still rely on documentation from Afghanistan," he told SBS News.
"The embassy in Canberra so far, over the past three years, was the primary source where they could get documents verified."
