In an exclusive interview with AVA Press, an informed source at the Afghan embassy in Tehran stated that the Afghan embassy in Tehran is currently not accountable to anyone for its actions, especially for the enormous income that is about $ 20,000 a day. He criticized the dual treatment of the ambassador, Abdul Ghafoor Liwal, and Abdul Qayyum Soleimani, the current deputy ambassador and head supervisor of the embassy, especially in dealing with diplomats, staff, immigrants, and clients. This senior diplomat says there is no legal justification for Abdul Ghafoor Liwal to leave the task and go to France.

Afghan Voice Agency (AVA)-Tehran: An informed source at the Afghan Embassy in Tehran, who did not want to be named, said in a special interview with AVA Press about the situation of the Afghanistan Embassy after leaving Abdul Ghafoor Liwal, the Afghanistan Ambassador to Iran. Mr. Liwal, Afghanistan’s Ambassador to Iran, and his Deputy Abdul Qayyum Soleimani have taken over the embassy without being considered by anybody or any authority. In this regard, the legal status of the Afghan Embassy in Iran is unstable, uncertain, and exceptional. Therefore, this issue may overshadow all the affairs of the embassy. He added: “The Afghan embassy in Tehran is currently not accountable to anyone for its performance, especially for the abundant revenues, which is about $ 20,000 a day. Where revenues go and on what basis the embassy spends them, and they have also undertaken some projects, the legal status of which is also unknown”.

“The fact that the Afghan ambassador to Iran has left for France has no legal basis at all,” said a well-informed source at the Afghanistan embassy in Tehran in response to why Abdul Ghafoor Liwal left the office. One of the reasons why the Afghanistan ambassador left his post is that he was afraid of the exceptional circumstances and the responsibilities and powers he had, so he has gone. He added: “Another reason is that he was probably unable to stand up to the opposition of Taliban ethnically and tribally who are currently in power in the Afghanistan government. According to him, another issue that prompted Mr. Liwal to leave the embassy is that if the countries recognize the Taliban government, he may no longer have the opportunity to seek refuge in European countries and the United States. His assets may be confiscated by his tribe Taliban.

“Unfortunately, Mr. Liwal lacked diplomatic experience,” the source said, referring to how Abdul Ghafoor Liwal headed the Afghanistan embassy in Tehran for two years. He started his work with two slogans. And one, it was fighting moral and administrative corruption. The second is to rent a large building for the embassy to relieve migrants from being displaced on the streets of Tehran to solve the clients’ problems. Not only was no practical work done in these areas, and never any large building taken, but the same building in the western part of Tehran was handed over. So, Selective measures were taken to combat moral and administrative corruption in the embassy.

He said that Abdul Ghafoor Liwal had bilateral treatments with the diplomats and staff: “The diplomats and Pashto-speaking agents and staff who were in the Liwal team were safe in every way. and the corruption of his relatives and teammates was often exposed and reported to him, but there was no confrontation.” Ergo, Liwal severely and selectively treated the others who were not in their group. The informed source in the Afghanistan embassy in Tehran reminded: Abdul Ghafoor Liwal’s approach with diplomats and staff was such that sometimes he benefits from divisiveness between them. Regarding the Afghanistan ambassador’s view about the Islamic Republic of Iran, he said: “The ambassador’s view about the officials of the host country was not a professional one, and most of the time, he found himself lacking capacity and being equal in negotiations and face-to-face talks.” During his administration, we certainly did not see a reduction in immigrant problems or improved relations between two countries like Afghanistan and Iran.

Thus, the source also clarified the ambassador’s view about immigrants and refugee representatives, solving their problems and efforts to provide more services to immigrants. “Unfortunately, there was a lot of talk and slogans about immigrants, and it can almost be said that Abdul Ghafoor Liwal was a follower of Mr. Hamid Karzai. And he tried to show his sympathy and sympathize with the people. However, he did not pay any attention to solving the problems of the immigrants in Iran. For example, he refused to order an immigrant’s passport that did not have the cost of a one-year renewal for a family member to be renewed free of charge. But he provided multiple financial facilities for diplomats and his local teammates, who had outstanding salaries and benefits in the embassy.

Regarding the Afghanistan ambassador’s treatment of local embassy staff, he said: “The dismissal of 27 educated staff, most of whom were Hazaras and Shiites, had no legal basis, and Soleimani, the current head of the embassy in Tehran, played a significant role in this issue as well, while some Employees of other ethnicities and infected with corruption backgrounds who do not even have a bachelor’s degree work at the Afghanistan embassy for more than ten years.

On the other hand, he stated: The Afghanistan embassy in Iran only pays diplomats’ salaries but does not pay wages for additional staff and local employees. At the same time, it has a significant income every day. This informed source about the exorbitant costs of providing consular services to immigrants in Iran reminded us that now it is an excellent opportunity to do much work for the benefit of immigrants. However, they seek their personal, ethnic, and teammate’s interests. He urged Abdul Qayyum Soleimani, the current head of the Afghanistan embassy in Tehran, to look out for the public interest if he is sympathetic to Iran’s refugees and immigrants. Remove the corrupt, immoral, and illiterate local employees.

They have been feeding on the poor immigrants for many years in Tehran and replacing them with clean, educated people and specialists. He emphasized: that Soleimani also has almost all the problems of the Liwal ambassador, and especially there are ambiguities in the exchange activities around the embassy. With a formal contract with the Afghanistan embassy, the exchange office continuously collects one thousand more than the market rate, even from immigrants who are not in a good economic situation in Iran.

Also, yesterday, on Saturday, one of the embassy’s clients complained that he had attended the legal department of the embassy to protest against his administrative work and that he had been ruthlessly insulted and beaten by a person named Obaid, who has many complainants in the embassy. Some local embassy staff has contracts with some translation offices, forcing migrants to do some money-making work through them. Earlier, several unofficial reports about some problems and corruption were published in the Afghanistan Embassy in Tehran, which was practically confirmed by this exclusive interview. For the past two years, one of the serious issues at the Afghanistan embassy has been the reduction of communication with journalists and the media, especially their boycott, the denial of permission to the embassy to cover events and programs, and interviews with various staff and agents. Whereas before, there was no such procedure.

However, after the fall of the republic system in Afghanistan and the rise of the Taliban, Afghanistan embassies and political representations abroad are governed autonomously. This situation has also created problems for Afghan citizens to complain about corruption and inconsistencies in Afghanistan missions. Therefore, the Taliban’s group foreign ministry has asked all embassies and missions abroad to continue their activities and liaise with this ministry as past. As a result, In the current situation, the delay in paying the salaries of the embassy staff, employees, and Afghanistan missions in Iran and other countries is a serious issue. On the other hand, providing some essential services to clients, especially immigrants, has been disrupted and stopped, including issuing electronic IDs (Tazkira) and electronic passports. Its Persian report is available at this link: www.b2n.ir/avapress.com.report

By Ava Press

Translated by Asadullah Jafari “Pezhman”