Zürcher Nachrichten - Taliban score successes with embassy closures, COP attendance

EUR -
AED 3.875889
AFN 72.205181
ALL 98.1458
AMD 411.558537
ANG 1.916541
AOA 962.380548
ARS 1053.460617
AUD 1.629039
AWG 1.899436
AZN 1.796054
BAM 1.955128
BBD 2.147062
BDT 127.076321
BGN 1.955501
BHD 0.397691
BIF 3140.220626
BMD 1.055242
BND 1.421211
BOB 7.348474
BRL 6.127479
BSD 1.063429
BTN 89.681974
BWP 14.429177
BYN 3.480104
BYR 20682.748811
BZD 2.143463
CAD 1.477856
CDF 3023.268931
CHF 0.936037
CLF 0.037475
CLP 1034.042999
CNY 7.643435
CNH 7.656268
COP 4726.4302
CRC 543.013352
CUC 1.055242
CUP 27.963921
CVE 110.227112
CZK 25.29162
DJF 189.364013
DKK 7.458431
DOP 64.047985
DZD 141.595584
EGP 52.048878
ERN 15.828634
ETB 129.787589
FJD 2.400517
FKP 0.831939
GBP 0.831679
GEL 2.880533
GGP 0.831939
GHS 17.174097
GIP 0.831939
GMD 74.922181
GNF 9164.849807
GTQ 8.217176
GYD 222.483527
HKD 8.210793
HNL 26.847772
HRK 7.527398
HTG 139.82194
HUF 408.071164
IDR 16747.750325
ILS 3.961617
IMP 0.831939
INR 89.091464
IQD 1393.021183
IRR 44417.781293
ISK 147.301429
JEP 0.831939
JMD 168.352133
JOD 0.748277
JPY 164.528089
KES 136.65697
KGS 90.959327
KHR 4308.519052
KMF 492.111895
KPW 949.718351
KRW 1484.483078
KWD 0.324709
KYD 0.886195
KZT 524.13984
LAK 23353.972643
LBP 95227.167988
LKR 310.813166
LRD 200.4511
LSL 19.103234
LTL 3.115856
LVL 0.638305
LYD 5.152205
MAD 10.573666
MDL 19.162413
MGA 4962.294333
MKD 61.50386
MMK 3427.385783
MNT 3585.713011
MOP 8.520071
MRU 42.333449
MUR 49.480474
MVR 16.303257
MWK 1843.966182
MXN 21.714761
MYR 4.729581
MZN 67.429784
NAD 19.103234
NGN 1777.15508
NIO 39.136548
NOK 11.768911
NPR 143.490319
NZD 1.79792
OMR 0.406301
PAB 1.063434
PEN 4.030415
PGK 4.274531
PHP 62.083597
PKR 295.462042
PLN 4.341712
PYG 8299.108061
QAR 3.877067
RON 4.9761
RSD 116.986248
RUB 103.941388
RWF 1459.598299
SAR 3.965
SBD 8.846682
SCR 14.372691
SDG 634.721198
SEK 11.604083
SGD 1.419443
SHP 0.831939
SLE 24.075373
SLL 22127.897695
SOS 607.691121
SRD 37.228328
STD 21841.3848
SVC 9.304802
SYP 2651.327542
SZL 19.109251
THB 36.955598
TJS 11.330505
TMT 3.7039
TND 3.34705
TOP 2.471482
TRY 36.253371
TTD 7.226516
TWD 34.38931
TZS 2806.944247
UAH 43.932499
UGX 3902.658556
USD 1.055242
UYU 44.834589
UZS 13604.323846
VES 47.482416
VND 26792.601648
VUV 125.280461
WST 2.949681
XAF 655.731608
XAG 0.035015
XAU 0.000412
XCD 2.851845
XDR 0.801125
XOF 655.728502
XPF 119.331742
YER 263.600634
ZAR 19.280301
ZMK 9498.447256
ZMW 29.089001
ZWL 339.787586
  • CMSD

    -0.0200

    24.73

    -0.08%

  • CMSC

    0.0700

    24.61

    +0.28%

  • BCC

    1.4200

    142.55

    +1%

  • SCS

    -0.3000

    13.37

    -2.24%

  • NGG

    -0.7800

    62.12

    -1.26%

  • JRI

    0.0200

    13.24

    +0.15%

  • RIO

    -0.5800

    60.62

    -0.96%

  • AZN

    0.1000

    65.29

    +0.15%

  • BTI

    0.1800

    35.42

    +0.51%

  • GSK

    -0.4100

    35.11

    -1.17%

  • RBGPF

    59.2500

    59.25

    +100%

  • RYCEF

    -0.0400

    7.07

    -0.57%

  • BCE

    -0.4800

    27.21

    -1.76%

  • VOD

    0.2800

    8.75

    +3.2%

  • RELX

    -0.4700

    46.12

    -1.02%

  • BP

    0.4100

    28.57

    +1.44%

Taliban score successes with embassy closures, COP attendance
Taliban score successes with embassy closures, COP attendance / Photo: BENJAMIN CREMEL - AFP

Taliban score successes with embassy closures, COP attendance

Afghanistan embassies in Britain and Norway loyal to the pro-Western authorities ousted by the Taliban in 2021 discreetly shut down this autumn, as the West seeks a more pragmatic approach to the country's Islamic rulers.

Text size:

The embassy of Afghanistan in London closed on September 27, following the mission in Oslo which shut down on September 12.

Both were run by staff loyal to the former authorities of the country, who were ejected from Kabul in the Taliban's lightning offensive in August 2021, a defeat seen as one of the biggest military debacles for the West.

And now a senior Taliban official is even attending the COP29 UN climate talks which began on Monday, joining world leaders and top Western officials at the conference in Baku.

Analysts say such moves represent acceptance of the de-facto political reality in Afghanistan and the need to work with its rulers on issues including migration, the fight against drugs, and security.

Embassies like those in London and Oslo, in something of a diplomatic quirk, had carried on their work after the Taliban takeover, issuing visas and carrying out other consular work in the name of the Afghan state.

But this summer the Taliban government announced that it "no longer took responsibility" for such passports and visas, adding that it had cut all ties with these embassies.

In mid-September, the Taliban government's foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi also accused them of "enormous corruption" and issuing "false documents" with increased prices, allegations denied by several officials of the former missions contacted by AFP.

- 'We have been betrayed' -

With the notable exceptions of Britain and Norway, most Western governments, which still do not recognise Taliban rule, did not budge.

"Norway acknowledges that it is the authorities who de facto control the state apparatus in Afghanistan and who, according to international law, can recall personnel from Afghan missions abroad," the Norwegian foreign ministry told AFP.

Afghan ambassador to the UK Zalmai Rassoul said on social media in September the embassy would close "at the official request of the host country."

"This decision was not made by the UK government," a spokesperson for the UK foreign office said.

"The state of Afghanistan decided to close the Afghan embassy in London and dismiss its staff."

London acknowledges that there is "no alternative to engaging pragmatically with the current administration of Afghanistan," added the spokesperson.

But the move by London was still surprising, coming from the country which after the US formed the second-largest contingent of the NATO coalition that drove the Taliban from power at the end of 2001 in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

In 20 years of deployment, 457 British soldiers were killed in Afghanistan. Ten soldiers from Norway, also a member of this coalition, were killed.

"The word we use is betrayal," said Nazifullah Salarzai, president of an association representing Afghan ambassadors who worked for the former authorities.

"We have been betrayed by some of our partners in the international community, I'm not shying away from this."

- 'Confrontation led nowhere' -

But a European diplomat, who previously worked in Kabul, said a change in strategy by the West towards the Taliban authorities was necessary.

"Confrontation led nowhere," said the diplomat, asking not to be named, adding that the only outcome had been a "deterioration" of relations accompanied by a severe erosion of rights of Afghan women.

Western countries are forming de-facto relations with the Taliban, regarding the group as "a security actor" against the Islamic State (IS) branch in Afghanistan and preventing the country from "becoming a source of insecurity, a kind of threat," said a former Afghan security official who has taken refuge in Europe, asking not to be named.

Afghans opposed to the Taliban fear that Germany, where more than 500,000 Afghans live, will follow in the footsteps of London and Oslo.

"The federal government has so far made no changes to the status of Afghan representations in Germany" and does not consider the Taliban regime to be "legitimate", a German diplomatic source told AFP, asking not to be named.

But Berlin negotiated with the Taliban, with Qatar acting as an intermediary, to allow the expulsion of 28 Afghan convicts from Germany to their country of origin at the end of August, according to Der Spiegel.

Such expulsions could continue in the future via Uzbekistan, a country neighbouring Afghanistan that signed a migration agreement with Germany in mid-September, press reports have indicated.

Meanwhile, Matiul Haq Khalis, director general of Afghanistan's National Environmental Protection Agency (NEPA), told AFP in Baku his team was invited to attend the UN climate talks by Azerbaijani authorities.

The Afghan delegation is in Baku as "guests" of the hosts, not as a party directly involved in the negotiations.

"When you lose wars, you only have bad solutions," said Gilles Dorronsoro, an expert on Afghanistan.

"The decision of London and Oslo is a gift for the Taliban but also based on reality," he added. "There is no alternative to the Taliban regime."

burs-gg-jf-sjw/as/yad

F.Schneider--NZN