Taliban says Ikramuddin Kamil appointed ‘consul’ in Mumbai
This marks the first such appointment in India by the Taliban regime in Kabul. There was no official word from the Indian side on the development
The Taliban have appointed Ikramuddin Kamil as the acting consul in Mumbai, the foreign ministry in Kabul announced on Tuesday, marking the first such appointment in India by the regime.
There was no official word from the Indian side on the development, which follows the first meeting in Kabul last week between an Indian delegation and the Taliban’s acting defence minister, Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob, the son of the group’s late founder Mullah Omar.
People familiar with the matter, speaking on condition of anonymity, described Kamil as an Afghan student whom the external affairs ministry is familiar with as he studied in India for seven years. The people linked the appointment to the need to provide consular services to a large Afghan community based in India.
According to the Taliban’s foreign ministry, Kamil is already in Mumbai and will handle consular services.
Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai, the Taliban’s deputy foreign minister for political affairs, also posted on X on Tuesday about Kamil’s appointment to the consulate in Mumbai.
The Taliban-controlled Bakhtar News Agency (BNA) cited sources in the foreign ministry as confirming Kamil’s appointment as the “acting consul of the Islamic Emirate in Mumbai”. A report by BNA added: “He is currently in Mumbai, where he is fulfilling his duties as a diplomat representing the Islamic Emirate.”
Kamil holds a PhD degree in international law and previously served as deputy director in the department of security cooperation and border affairs in the foreign ministry, the report said.
The people cited above said Syed Mohammad Ibrahimkhail, the lone former diplomat who has stayed on in India had kept the Afghan mission in New Delhi and the consulates in Mumbai and Hyderabad running.
“The fact remains that there is a large Afghan community in India, which is in need of consular services. More staff is required to effectively service the Afghan nationals residing in India,” one of the people said.
Kamil, who studied for his doctorate on an Indian scholarship, agreed to function as a diplomat in the consulate in Mumbai, the people said.
“As far as his affiliation or status is concerned, for us, he is an Afghan national working for Afghans in India,” the person cited above said.
Like other countries, India doesn’t recognise the Taliban regime that assumed power following the dramatic collapse of the Ashraf Ghani government in August 2021. The people said there is a set process for recognition of any government and India will continue to work with the international community on this issue.
Most diplomats appointed by the previous Ashraf Ghani government, including former ambassador Farid Mamundzay, have left India.
After Mamundzay left the country in 2023, other diplomats shuttered the embassy in New Delhi in November last year, citing a lack of support from the Indian side.
Zakia Wardak, then the consul in Mumbai, took over the operations of the embassy but she resigned from her position in May 2024 after reports emerged that she was detained at Mumbai airport while allegedly trying to smuggle in 25 kg of gold from Dubai. She subsequently fled the country too.
Kamil had received a scholarship from the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) to study at the South Asian University (SAU), established in New Delhi by members of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc).
He is a Pashtun from Nangarhar province in eastern Afghanistan. He studied law at the Islamic University Islamabad, before obtaining MPhil and PhD degrees from the SAU.
After initially closing its embassy and pulling out all its officials following the Taliban takeover, the Indian side re-established a diplomatic presence in Kabul by deploying a “technical team” in June 2022.