Afghan Embassy in Japan to Halt Operations Sunday

New Delhi, Jan. 31 (Jiji Press)–The Afghan Embassy in Japan is set to halt all operations, including consular services, on Sunday. The Afghan embassy, located in Tokyo’s Minato Ward, has been operated by officials appointed by the country’s democratic government, which collapsed in 2021, when the Taliban militant group seized power. An embassy official said that nothing has been decided about the future. The building for the embassy is expected to be closed for the time being. In a statement released in late December, the embassy said that it decided on the shutdown after consultations with the Japanese side, while stopping short of providing a specific reason. Some diplomatic establishments of Afghanistan were closed in recent years due to a lack of operating funds, while others saw their staff members replaced with personnel appointed by the Taliban-led administration. On the possibility that a Taliban official could be appointed ambassador to Japan and that personnel from the group could be sent to the East Asian nation, a Japanese Foreign Ministry official said, “It is up to the Afghan side to make decisions.” “There is no change in our stance that the Japanese government does not recognize the Taliban-led regime as (Afghanistan’s) legitimate government,” the official added. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]