ISLAMABAD (AP) 鈥� The Taliban on Tuesday disavowed many Afghan diplomatic missions overseas, saying it will not honor passports, visas and other documents issued by diplomats associated with Afghanistan's former Western-backed administration.
It鈥檚 the Taliban's latest attempt to of diplomatic missions since . Many of their leaders are under sanctions and no country recognizes them as Afghanistan鈥檚 legitimate rulers.
The country鈥檚 seat at the United Nations is still held by the former government that was led by Ashraf Ghani.
In a statement posted to the social media platform X, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that documents issued by missions in London, Berlin, Belgium, Bonn, Switzerland, Austria, France, Italy, Greece, Poland, Australia, Sweden, Canada and Norway are no longer accepted and that the ministry 鈥渂ears no responsibility鈥� for those documents.
The documents affected include passports, visa stickers, deeds and endorsements.
The ministry wrote that people in those countries will need to approach embassies and consulates controlled by the Taliban's Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan government instead.
鈥淎ll Afghan nationals living abroad and foreigners can visit the IEA political and consular missions in other countries, other than the above-mentioned missions, to access consular services," it said.
In March 2023, the Taliban said they were of more Afghan embassies abroad. Their chief spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said the administration had sent diplomats to at least 14 countries.
Afghan embassies in Spain and the Netherlands last October stressed that they were working with Taliban authorities in Kabul, after the Taliban suspended consular services at the embassies in London and Vienna over their 鈥渓ack of transparency and cooperation.鈥�
Some countries retain an active diplomatic mission in Afghanistan, including Pakistan and China.
are a major obstacle to the Taliban gaining official recognition as the country's legitimate government. They have stopped female education beyond grade six and banned women from many jobs and most public spaces.
In a report published Tuesday, the U.N. mission in Afghanistan said intelligence officials in May forcibly closed the office of a women-led for allowing some of its female employees to physically report to work.
The NGO was allowed to reopen days later after signing a letter saying it would not allow women employees to come to the office, according to the mission鈥檚 latest report on human rights in the country. The report did not disclose the location for 鈥減rotection reasons.鈥�
It also said that in southern Zabul province, officials from the Taliban鈥檚 told transport companies and checkpoint commanders that women were prohibited from traveling without a male guardian.
鈥淭hey warned that those that violated the order would face harsh consequences,鈥� the report added.
Nobody from the Taliban was immediately available for comment on the mission鈥檚 report.
The Associated Press
