Kabul, Feb 19 (IANS): Adela Raz, the Afghan Ambassador to the US, has stepped down from her post, a senior official at the mission said, calling the new restrictions imposed by the US Department of State on the Embassy as the reason for her resignation.
Afghan Deputy Ambassador Abdul Hadi Nijrabi told TOLO News on Friday that the US State Department had decided to stop political and diplomatic activities of Afghanistan in the US.
He said the State Department in a letter to the Afghanistan embassy in Washington demanded the diplomatic activities be halted.
"The letter sent by the US State Department to the embassy said only the ambassador is allowed to continue work from home, but not on political and diplomatic activities. The rest of the diplomats cannot work anymore," he said.
Raz is the third senior Afghan diplomat who stepped down from her position within the past six months, TOLO News reported.
Previously, the Afghan Ambassadors in China and Turkmenistan resigned from their positions.
With the Taliban taking over the country last August, the Afghanistan diplomatic missions have been facing economic problems.
Officials at the Afghanistan embassy in Washington said that the financial system of the mission has been suspended by a bank for over four months.
"It has been over four months that the salaries of the Afghanistan embassy's (staffs) have been suspended. All diplomats are facing problems," TOLO News quoted Safi Delawar, who worked as an adviser for the Afghanistan embassy in Washington, as saying.
The Afghanistan embassies in Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Italy, Poland and Iran are said to be facing similar economic challenges.
The Taliban-led government's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) however, has welcomed the closure of those embassies which are not in contact with the incumbent regime.
"The Afghanistan diplomatic missions being closed in many countries is a good act because they don't cooperate with the current government and are trying to misuse their authority," said an official from the Ministry.