ISLAMABAD: As insecurity in Afghanistan has escalated, Afghan officials announced the closure of the Pakistani, Iranian and Turkish consulates in Balkh province.
The consulates of Pakistan, Iran and Turkey were closed following the deterioration of the security situation and the fall of several cities in Balkh province to the Taliban.
According to Afghan media, the consulates of the three countries have closed their visa issuance sector and diplomats have returned to Kabul.
Earlier, Farhad Azimi, the governor of Balkh, announced the closure of several consulates, including the consulates of Iran, Turkey and Russia in Mazar-e-Sharif. According to Azimi, the Russian consulate has been moved to the area between the port of Hairatan and the city of Tirmidhi.
Earlier, the Afghan Institute for Strategic Studies (AISS) announced that 127 cities in the country have fallen to the Taliban in the past two months and that the government has only managed to take 10 provinces out of Taliban control.
However, the Pakistan embassy in Kabul dismissed on Sunday reports of the consulate’s closure and relocation of some diplomats, terming them as being factually incorrect.
“The Embassy has seen some media reports regarding closure of Pakistan Consulate General in Mazar-e-Sharif and relocation of its diplomats in Kabul,” said an official communique released by the consulate.
“The Embassy would like to state these reports are not factual. The Consulates General of Pakistan in Afghanistan including Mazar-e-Sharif are open and functioning normally,” it added. The consulate further stated that, “No diplomat from any of the Consulates General has been relocated.”
However, it added that “due to the deteriorating situation of Covid-19 in the country, the Embassy and all Consulates General in Afghanistan including Mazar-e-Sharif have temporarily closed its consular sections for issuance of manual visas.”
“Online visa services are operational and issuing visas on a daily basis,” the embassy maintained.
On the other hand, the Taliban have captured a key district in their former bastion of Kandahar — the latest area to be seized since US troops began their final withdrawal — after fierce night-time fighting with Afghan government forces, officials said on Sunday.
The fall of Panjwai district in the southern province of Kandahar comes just two days after US and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) forces vacated their main Bagram base near Kabul, from where they led operations for two decades against the Taliban and their Al Qaeda allies.
Over the years, the Taliban and Afghan forces have regularly clashed in and around Panjwai, with the insurgents aiming to seize it, given its proximity to the Kandahar city, the provincial capital.
The province of Kandahar is the birthplace of the Taliban, who went on to rule Afghanistan with a harsh version of the Sharia law until being overthrown by a US-led invasion in 2001.
Panjwai Governor Hasti Mohammad said Afghan forces and the Taliban clashed during the night, resulting in government forces retreating from the area. “The Taliban have captured the district police headquarters and governor’s office building,” he said.
Kandahar provincial council head Sayed Jan Khakriwal confirmed the fall of Panjwai, but accused the government forces of “intentionally withdrawing”.
