Afghan envoy resigns after being accused of smuggling 25 kg gold into India

According to media reports, the Afghan Consul General in India’s financial capital Mumbai has resigned from his post following allegations of smuggling.

Zakia Wardak, the Afghan Consul General in Mumbai, India, was allegedly caught smuggling gold worth about $2 million into the country.

Confirming her resignation on her official “

Afghanistan’s embassy in New Delhi closed in November, more than two years after the Taliban returned to power in Kabul following the fall of the Western-backed government, leaving Wardak as the country’s most senior representative in India. AFP,

According to Indian media reports, Wardak was stopped by financial intelligence officers last month at Mumbai airport after arriving with his son from Dubai carrying 25 kilograms of gold.

Reports said he was not arrested because of his diplomatic immunity, but the gold – worth approximately $1.9 million – was confiscated.

Wardak’s resignation has left thousands of Afghan nationals, including students and businessmen, without any consular representation in India.

Most foreign nations – including India – do not officially recognize the Taliban government of Afghanistan, but accept them as the de facto ruling authority.

In several Afghan missions, former government-appointed diplomats have refused to hand over control of embassy buildings and property to representatives of Taliban authorities.

Wardak said in the statement that he had “suffered numerous personal attacks and defamations” over the past year.

“Such incidents demonstrate the challenges women face in Afghan society,” she said, making no explicit reference to the gold allegations.

Taliban officials have full control over about a dozen Afghan embassies abroad, including in Pakistan, China, Turkey and Iran.

Others operate on a hybrid system, with ambassadors gone but embassy staff still performing routine consular functions such as issuing visas and other documents.

Most countries evacuated their missions from Kabul after the Taliban closed the Afghan capital in August 2021, although a handful, including Pakistan, China and Russia, never closed their embassies, and still have their ambassadors in Kabul.