Afghan Embassy, Now Out of Money, Will Shut Down, U.S. Says

WASHINGTON — With out the backing of a acknowledged authorities or cash to maintain the lights on, Afghanistan’s embassy to the US is shutting down, State Division officers mentioned on Friday.

Afghan diplomats, who had been appointed by the previous U.S.-backed authorities and might be underneath risk by the ruling Taliban in the event that they return house, have 30 days to use for residency or short-term humanitarian parole to stay in the US earlier than they danger being deported, the officers mentioned. Though they might not be despatched again to Afghanistan, it’s not clear the place else the diplomats would go, mentioned the officers, who overtly hoped the state of affairs wouldn’t attain that time.

Round 25 diplomats — about one-fourth of the estimated 100 who labored on the Afghan Embassy in Washington or the nation’s consulates in New York and Los Angeles — have but to use to stay, mentioned two State Division officers who spoke on situation of anonymity to debate the delicate subject extra frankly.

The event caps a tragic saga for Afghan envoys, whose project to the US had marked the top of their diplomatic careers earlier than being thrown into doubt with the Taliban’s takeover of their authorities in August.

Two months later, Citibank froze the embassy’s financial institution accounts to keep away from violating American sanctions in opposition to the Taliban. The financial penalties had been imposed years in the past, when the Taliban had been designated a worldwide terrorist group. Now that it runs the Afghan authorities, the Taliban in idea management the nation’s central financial institution, prompting Citibank to grab what one Afghan envoy had described as a number of hundred thousand {dollars} within the embassy’s account.

That has meant that not less than a number of dozen Afghan diplomats haven’t been paid since October, and have been dwelling on financial savings or pressured to borrow cash to remain afloat. In some circumstances, envoys have moved their households into cheaper houses to make ends meet.

The Afghan ambassador to the US, Adela Raz, didn’t reply to a message in search of remark Friday night, and different diplomats who labored for her couldn’t be reached.

A lot of the world, together with the US, doesn’t acknowledge the Taliban as a legit authorities. Till that occurs — if it ever does — officers mentioned the State Division wouldn’t accredit any diplomats the Taliban sends to Washington.

For now, the State Division will oversee the upkeep and safety of three properties the Afghan authorities owns in the US: a stately Colonial Revival embassy constructing in Washington, a consulate in Los Angeles and the Lengthy Island residence of the consul basic in New York.

One of many officers described the event as an unlucky state of affairs and urged the Afghan diplomats to use for residency or short-term parole as a technique to qualify for work permits and, in flip, discover jobs to assist themselves.

They’ll be a part of greater than 100,000 Afghan candidates who’re hoping to stay in the US in a course of that has overwhelmed the Biden administration since Kabul, the Afghan capital, fell in August.