India; Afghanistan’s female diplomat was caught smuggling 25 kg of gold

Mumbai: Afghanistan’s Consul General in India, Zakia Wardak, was caught trying to smuggle gold worth $1.9 million, but was not arrested due to diplomatic immunity.

According to Indian media, the intelligence officials at the Mumbai airport searched the luggage of Zakia Wardak and her son on suspicion, and 25 kg of gold was recovered and confiscated.

After this incident, India’s Afghan Consul General Zakia Wardak announced her resignation from the post with immediate effect in a post on social media.

Zakia Wardak did not give any clear reason for her resignation but in her post she wrote that during the last one year many people were attacked and defamed. Such incidents have shown the challenges faced by women in Afghan society.

However, he did not comment on the allegation of being caught smuggling gold.

It should be noted that even after the Taliban took power in Afghanistan, the Afghan embassy in India was functioning so that the activities of students and businessmen could continue.

However, due to lack of resources and other administrative problems, the Afghan embassy had to be closed in November last year and Zakia Wardak was working as the sole consul general at that time.

After Zakia Wardak’s resignation, thousands of Afghan nationals, including students and businessmen, are now left without consular representation in India.

In the third year of Taliban rule in Afghanistan, most countries have not officially recognized the Taliban government.

Diplomats appointed by the former government in many Afghan missions refused to hand over control of embassy buildings and property to representatives of Taliban officials.

However, Taliban officials have full control of nearly a dozen Afghan embassies abroad, including those in Pakistan, China, Turkey and Iran.

Many other countries operate a hybrid system of diplomacy where embassy staff perform routine consular work such as issuing visas and other documents after the ambassadors have withdrawn.

Similarly, since the Taliban came to power in August 2021, most countries have closed their diplomatic missions in Kabul, except for Pakistan, China and Russia, which still have ambassadors from those countries.