Saudi Arabia shuts embassy in Kabul

Saudi’s decision to shut its Kabul embassy has to do a lot with ISIS threatening an attack on their diplomatic mission.

New Delhi, Feb 7: According to Khaama Press News Agency, the largest online news service for Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia has shut its Afghanistan embassy. Reporting on the latest development the news agency has cited the Foreign Ministry sources who have confirmed that diplomats and employees of the embassy have been evacuated to Islamabad.

Several reports claim that Saudi Arabia's decision to shut its Kabul embassy has to do a lot with ISIS threatening an attack on their diplomatic mission. Although the Saudi Arabia embassy is located in the Shash Darak which is considered the safest zone in the whole of Kabul, the nation does not want to take risks.

Ironically enough, Saudi Arabia has been cordial with the Taliban and it was one of the few nations that had opened their embassies in Kabul once American forces fled away in 2021. However, a lot of things have changed in Afghanistan over the last two years. For instance, the Taliban, an Islamic fundamentalist is now fighting with another fundamentalist ISIS.

ISIS has kept on threatening the regime and kept several terror attacks in Afghanistan over the months. Recently, it threatened the Saudi Arabia diplomatic mission in Kabul. Amidst the reports of Saudi leaving Kabul, Taliban spokesperson Zabiullah Mujahid has denied any such developments and said that Saudi diplomats are travelling to Riyadh for training and will return to Kabul after a few weeks.

Pakistan suspends consular services in Kabul

Some other sources claim that not just Saudi Arabia but even Pakistan has suspended consular services in Kabul. The decision from Pakistan according to these reports was made after the deadly attack in a Peshawar mosque that took more than 100 lives and injured even many more. The attack has worsened bilateral relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

However, Afghan Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqqi has denied any role of Afghanistan in the said attack. He criticized Pakistan and retorted that it should take care of its own problems and there is no use of blaming Afghanistan for the attack.

Only 12 embassies operational in Kabul

The troubled nation of Afghanistan is not just unsafe for its citizens, even diplomatic missions are targeted by the terror outfits, and the result is that several countries have shut their diplomatic missions in Kabul. For now only a dozen diplomatic missions are operational. Apart from India, other countries like Turkey, UAE, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Iran, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Qatar and China have their missions working there.