INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
The Afghan embassy in Washington, which is under severe financial pressure and cut off from the new Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA)
government in Kabul, will close down in the coming week, a senior State Department official confirmed Saturday.Its diplomats, holdovers from
the old government, now have a month to apply for US visas before being deported & though not back to Afghanistan, the official said,
speaking on condition of anonymity, AFP reported.Around 100 diplomats currently work at the embassy in Washington or at Afghan consulates in
Los Angeles and in New York, according to The New York Times.Roughly one-fourth have yet to apply to remain in the US, the American official
said.&The Afghan Embassy and consulates are under severe financial pressure
Their bank accounts are not available to them,& the official told AFP.He added, &we have no intention of accrediting diplomats who are
appointed by the Taliban (IEA) at this time.&The group will retain its current diplomatic status for 30 days.The official said the State
Department had &now made arrangements in cooperation with the Afghan Embassy to facilitate an orderly shutdown of operations in a way that
would protect and preserve all diplomatic mission property in the United States until operations are able to resume,& AFP reported.The post
Afghan embassy in DC to close first appeared on Ariana News.
