Afghanistan’s embassy in London will close at the end of the month, as the resident diplomats are no longer accredited by the Central Asian nation’s Taliban authorities.
In a post on X, the incumbent Afghan Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Zalmai Rassoul, announced that his South Kensington facility will end operations on September 27 after a formal request was made by the British foreign ministry.
The decision follows the revelation in July that the Taliban would no longer acknowledge the diplomatic missions established by their predecessors. The change in policy resulted in the invalidation of credentials, documents, passports, and visas issued by the affected overseas locations.
Currently, the U.K. does not recognize the Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan, precipitating the 2021 relocation of its embassy in Kabul to Doha.
Rassoul, who served as foreign minister under former President Hamid Karzai, was appointed to his position by President Ashraf Ghani prior to his ousting by the ruling Islamist regime.
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