Taliban appoint new UAE consul general in latest diplomatic push

Afghanistan’s Taliban government on Tuesday appointed a new consul-general to the United Arab Emirates in a further move aimed at formalizing ties with the Gulf state.

The Islamic Emirate’s foreign ministry said in a letter that Abdur Rahman Feda, the ministry’s chief of protocol, would serve as the new consul-general in Dubai.

Feda replaced Masood Ahmad Azizi, who was appointed by the former Western-backed government in 2020 and remained in his post until this week.

“These countries need a representative to resolve issues with the current government”

– Asif Moblegh, Afghan political scientist

The Feda’s arrival in Dubai on Wednesday is the latest in a series of diplomatic moves aimed at boosting support for the Islamic Emirate in the region.

Earlier this month, the Taliban government sent its chosen diplomats to the country’s embassy in Iran and consulate in Turkey respectively.

The Taliban government has yet to be officially recognized by any nation, and the international community is grappling with how to deal with the country’s new rulers while helping Afghans weather an economic and humanitarian crisis.

A former Afghan diplomat currently stationed in the Gulf told Middle East Eye that given the economic realities in the Middle East and Asia, the diplomatic changes are a matter of “regional necessity”.

The former diplomat asked not to be identified due to the sensitivity of the issue and said the ongoing humanitarian crisis and refugee flow outside of Afghanistan meant regional countries needed to establish official channels with the Islamic Emirate.

Lack of official status

Since autumn 2021, the Islamic Emirate has appointed diplomats to various positions in embassies and consulates in the Muslim and Arabic-speaking world, including Pakistan, Russia, China, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Malaysia.

Asif Moblegh, a Turkey-based Afghan political scientist, downplayed the move, saying while the Islamic Emirate has managed to gain “de facto recognition,” it still lacks official status as a state.

“It’s just a channel of communication… These countries need a representative to resolve issues with the current government and in this case it’s the Taliban,” Moblegh said of why countries like the UAE, Iran and Turkey were ready who accept diplomats from the Islamic Emirate.

On the same day as Feda’s appointment, a delegation from the Islamic Emirate’s Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation traveled to Iran, where it will reportedly assess the situation of Afghan refugees.

Range of the UAE

The United Arab Emirates severed ties with the Taliban following the September 11 attacks, but the two sides have maintained strong ties since the US withdrew its forces in 2021.

In December, an Islamic Emirate delegation led by Acting Defense Minister Mawlawi Mohammad Yaqoob Mujahid, son of Taliban founder Mullah Mohammad Omar, flew to Abu Dhabi to meet with UAE President Mohammed Bin Zayed.

Shortly after his meeting with the Taliban, MBZ, as the President of the United Arab Emirates is known colloquially, traveled to Doha, where he met with Qatar’s Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani during the World Cup.

Diplomatic, humanitarian and academic sources familiar with the matter told MEE at the time that discussions were indeed largely focused on Afghanistan, although international media largely linked the meeting to the sporting event.

Since the Taliban returned to power in the summer of 2021, both countries have been inextricably linked to Afghanistan.

When former President Ashraf Ghani fled the country, accompanied by a cadre of other officials, they ended up in Abu Dhabi. Though most others on board the plane eventually returned to their families in Europe and the United States, Ghani stayed in the Emirates capital.

For its part, Doha has hosted Taliban delegations since 2011, when former US President Barack Obama had hoped to use Qatar as a base from which US and Afghan officials could negotiate with the group, which has been waging a bloody stand against the previous administration made his western supporters.

Doha was also where the Trump administration signed the February 2020 peace accord that would eventually see Joe Biden withdrawing all US forces on August 31, 2021.

By November 2021, the Biden government had appointed Qatar as Washington’s diplomatic representative in the Taliban’s Islamic Emirate.

Sources, who spoke to the MEE on condition of anonymity, said since late 2022 there have been growing disagreements between the US, Europeans and the Islamic Emirate, who have differing views on who should serve as the primary mediator between the West and that of Taliban-led government should function.

Diplomatic and academic sources familiar with the matter say many in the Islamic Emirate prefer to work with Abu Dhabi while the West continues to pin its hopes on Doha.

search for investments

The Taliban are also focused on reaching out to the diaspora in the UAE, home to an estimated 300,000 people, including high-profile traders and investors.

Last month, Afghan Business Council head Haji Obaidullah Sader Khail told local media that Afghans have invested more than $10 billion in the UAE and are willing to bring their money to Afghanistan if the Islamic Emirate provides a suitable environment manage.

In addition, due to the overcrowding of the missions in Tehran and Islamabad, many Afghans who either live or have families in Iran and Pakistan have also turned to the Dubai consulate for help.

Acknowledging all of this, Islamic Emirate officials have made repeated visits to the UAE, trying to lure potential Emirati and Afghan investors to the country, which is currently facing a severe economic downturn due to Western sanctions, aid cuts and banking restrictions.

Last spring, Kabul signed a memorandum of understanding with the United Arab Emirates-based consortium GAAC/G42 to take responsibility for ground services at the international airports in Kabul, Herat and Kandahar.

At the time, there was hope that the deal would result in the return of international airlines to Afghanistan, particularly UAE’s low-cost carrier FlyDubai.

However, Emirati and Turkish airlines have yet to return to Afghanistan after several announcements of an impending resumption.

Even without the return of international flights, the deal was seen as a crucial step by the Islamic Emirate towards its Persian Gulf ties.

For nearly a year, Abu Dhabi’s former rivals in Doha have been in talks with Turkey to help Afghan airports run.

Still, Wali Forotan, a Kabul-based political analyst, said those countries have largely recognized the harsh reality of the country, which is currently ruled by a government accused of human rights abuses and denying women access to education and jobs.

Forotan said that while they don’t particularly care about the politics of the Islamic Emirate, they see it as “a strong military force that has some popular support” and therefore hope the Taliban can serve as “a group” in the may be able to work together to help them also achieve their goals” in Afghanistan and the region.