He left the keys in his office and money in the account: the Afghan ambassador in Beijing posted on Twitter on Monday, January 10, his astonishing letter of resignation after six months without seeing a penny received from the new Taliban masters in Kabul.
Javid Ahmad Qaem specifies that a locally recruited employee was given the responsibility of answering calls after the departure of all diplomats.
He himself gives no indication of his destination.
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The letter, dated January 1, paints a portrait of a barely functioning embassy. Javid Ahmad Qaem had to dip into the embassy's bank account to pay staff after the Taliban took power in his country in mid-August. "
Since we had not received any salary from Kabul during the last six months, we had formed a commission with diplomats to resolve financial issues,
" he explains in his letter to the Afghan foreign ministry.
His successor will still find money in the account.
“
As of today, January 1, 2022, there is still around 100,000 dollars in the account
” or around 88,000 euros, he wrote, adding that he left the keys to the five embassy cars in his office.
"
I think that when the new person appointed, Mr. Sadaat, arrives in Beijing, there will be no diplomat
left in the mission," he added in another tweet, adding that China had been "
duly informed
".
It was not possible to know where his successor was currently located or who had appointed him.
No comment was immediately available from Taliban officials in Kabul.
Several Afghan embassies in an uncomfortable situation
The Afghan embassy in Beijing appeared open Monday afternoon as usual, with the Afghan tricolor raised and two security guards outside. Javid Ahmad Qaem, who had served as ambassador to Beijing since November 2019, expressed concerns about the Taliban in interviews published in media shortly after China hosted a Taliban delegation in July a few weeks before the return to power of the Islamists in Kabul.
Afghanistan, where unemployment and inflation are skyrocketing, is now plunged into financial chaos.
China has provided millions of dollars in aid to the country since the new regime came to power.
Many Afghan embassies around the world find themselves in an uncomfortable situation, led by diplomats loyal to the former pro-Western government overthrown by the Taliban who have mostly failed to appoint new representatives to these missions while their government is not officially recognized by any country.
Read also Afghanistan: Taliban ask traders to behead mannequins in their stores
In Italy last week, police were called to intervene at the Afghan embassy in Rome where a former government-appointed but recently fired diplomat Mohammad Fahim Kashaf returned claiming he had been appointed by the Taliban.
He had, according to a press release from the embassy, assaulted the ambassador on duty.
The Afghan foreign ministry in Kabul denied that Mohammad Fahim Kashaf was appointed ambassador, but also that he was fired.
The particular situation in Afghanistan has also caused problems at the United Nations, where representatives of the old and new regimes are claiming the siege of Afghanistan.
Last year, the UN Security Council indefinitely postponed any decision on this matter.
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