The Taliban government has appointed Ikramuddin Kamil as acting consul in the Afghan mission in Mumbai. According to Afghan media, this is the first such appointment by the Taliban for an Afghan mission in India.
Afghanistan’s Foreign Ministry has announced Kamil’s appointment, which the Taliban-controlled Bakhtar news agency reported on Monday citing anonymous sources. The report said that he is “currently in Mumbai, where he is carrying out his responsibilities on behalf of the Islamic Emirate.”
This appointment is seen as an effort by Kabul to strengthen diplomatic ties with India and increase its presence abroad. Kamil has a PhD in International Law and previously served as Deputy Director of the Department of Security Cooperation and Border Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He is now expected to facilitate consular services for Afghan nationals in Mumbai and represent Afghanistan’s interests in India.
This appointment of Kamil came at a time when India’s Ministry of External Affairs’ Afghanistan affairs chief recently held talks with Taliban’s caretaker Defense Minister Mullah Mohammad Yacob in Kabul. Taliban Deputy Foreign Minister Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai also posted on X about Kamil’s appointment.
Since the arrival of the Taliban government in the Afghan missions, the presence of diplomatic personnel in India has been negligible. Most of the diplomats, who were appointed by Ashraf Ghani’s government, left India.
It is noteworthy that in May, Afghanistan’s most senior diplomat, Zakia Wardak, resigned from her position after it emerged that she was allegedly arrested at the Mumbai airport for smuggling 25 kg of gold, worth approximately 18, 6 million rupees, from Dubai. . Wardak took charge of the Afghan embassy in New Delhi in November last year, where its previous ambassador, Farid Mamnazai, had moved to the United Kingdom.
