ISLAMABAD: Saudi diplomats have left Afghanistan and relocated to Pakistan over security concerns,” a diplomat with direct knowledge of the development said on Tuesday.
On Monday, the Taliban government in Kabul said the Saudi diplomats’ departure was temporary and not for security reasons.
“Some employees of Saudi Arabia’s embassy have gone out for a kind of training, and will return,” Zabiullah Mujahid, a spokesperson for the Taliban administration, said.
But a diplomatic source privy to details of the relocation confirmed to Arab News that the move was due to security concerns. He declined to be named as he was not authorized to speak on the record to the media. He also did not specify how long the Saudi diplomats would be based outside Afghanistan, or how many had had left the country.
Pakistan’s foreign ministry has not yet commented on the development.
In the months since the United States’ chaotic withdrawal from Kabul in August 2021, Afghanistan has struggled with terror attacks, mostly claimed by Daesh, as well as poverty, drought, malnutrition and increasing bans on women from participating in public life.
Development aid upon which the country relied so heavily has been cut as the international community demands that the Taliban respect the rights of Afghans, particularly girls and women whose access to work and education has been curtailed.
