Indonesia shifts its embassy in Afghanistan to Pakistan

Jakarta, Aug 21 (EFE).- Indonesia has temporarily moved its diplomatic mission in Afghanistan to neighboring Pakistan, after its air forces evacuated dozens of people following the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul, Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said Saturday.

In a video posted on the ministry’s YouTube channel, Marsudi revealed that the Indonesian authorities had initially planned to continue the mission of its embassy in Kabul with a small team.

However, he added that at the last moment there were new developments in the evacuation process and they decided that the embassy would operate from Islamabad.

The minister did not specify what events forced the temporary transfer of the embassy to Islamabad, which is one hour’s flight from Kabul and where Indonesia’s so far only repatriation flight carrying 33 people made a stopover on Friday.

Among the 33 evacuated were 26 Indonesians, including diplomatic personnel, five Filipinos and two Afghans.

As for the two Afghans, one is married to an Indonesian citizen and the other to an embassy staff, whereas the five Filipinos were evacuated after receiving the request for help from their country’s government.

The evacuation operations from Afghanistan by different countries are being affected due to the chaotic situation outside Kabul airport where the Taliban are restricting access to the Afghans seeking to leave.

On Aug.15, the Taliban – with almost all provinces under their control – took control of Kabul after their fighters entered the capital without any resistance following the flight of President Ashraf Ghani. EFE

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