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Azerbaijani Envoy Hands Letter To Taliban On Opening Embassy In Kabul

(illustrative photo)

February 15, 2024

By RFE/RL's Radio Azadi

Afghanistan's Taliban-led government says Azerbaijan has officially reopened its embassy in Kabul, following through on a pledge made last year.

A spokesman for the Taliban-led government's Foreign Ministry, Abdul Qahar Balkhi, wrote on X, formerly Twitter, on February 15 that Azerbaijani Ambassador to Afghanistan Ilham Mammadov arrived in the Afghan capital and handed an official letter on opening the oil-rich South Caucasus state's embassy in Kabul to Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi.

"This meeting discussed the beginning of diplomatic relations between Afghanistan and Azerbaijan, economic cooperation and many other issues," Balkhi wrote, adding that Muttaqi called the opening of the embassy and the sending of ambassador-level diplomats "an important development in bilateral relations."

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev signed a law on opening an embassy in Kabul in January 2021. In July the same year, Mammadov was appointed the ambassador to Kabul.

In December, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Ceyhun Bayramov said Azerbaijan would open its embassy in Kabul in 2024.

Azerbaijani armed forces took part in the international anti-terrorist operation in Afghanistan. They left the country along with the U.S.-led international forces in August 2021, after which the Taliban, which is internationally recognized as a terrorist organization, returned to power.

Mammadov's trip to Kabul comes three days before UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is expected to host an international meeting in Doha, Qatar, to discuss joint efforts to assist the people of Afghanistan.

The Taliban confirmed earlier this month that it had received an invitation to the meeting and was considering "meaningful participation" in it.

The Taliban takeover of Afghanistan drove millions into poverty and hunger after foreign aid stopped almost overnight.

Sanctions against the Taliban rulers, a halt on bank transfers, and frozen billions in Afghanistan's currency reserves have cut off access to global institutions and the outside money that supported the aid-dependent economy before the withdrawal of U.S. and NATO forces.

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