Current:Home > MarketsAfghan diplomat Zakia Wardak resigns after being accused of smuggling almost $2 million worth of gold into India-LoTradeCoin
Afghan diplomat Zakia Wardak resigns after being accused of smuggling almost $2 million worth of gold into India
View Date:2024-12-23 14:51:33
New Delhi —Afghanistan's top diplomat in India resigned days after she was reportedly caught by airport authorities smuggling nearly $2 million worth of gold into the country. Zakia Wardak, the Afghan Consul-General in India's financial capital Mumbai, posted a statement on social media announcing her resignation.
Afghanistan's embassy in New Delhi shut down in November, more than two years after the Taliban returned to power in Kabul following the collapse of the Western-backed government, leaving Wardak as the country's most senior representative in India.
"It is with great regret that I announce my decision to step away from my role at the Consulate and Embassy in India, effective May 5, 2024," Wardak said Saturday.
Indian media reports said Wardak was stopped last month by financial intelligence authorities at Mumbai airport on arrival from Dubai, along with her son, carrying about 55 pounds of gold. She was not arrested because of her diplomatic immunity, the reports said, but the gold — worth around $1.9 million — was confiscated.
Wardak's resignation leaves thousands of Afghan nationals, including students and businessmen, without any consular representation in India. Most foreign nations, including India, do not officially recognize Afghanistan's Taliban government, but acknowledge it as the de facto ruling authority.
In many Afghan missions, diplomats appointed by the former government have refused to cede control of embassy buildings and property to representatives of the Taliban authorities.
Wardak said in the statement that she had "encountered numerous personal attacks and defamation" over the past year.
Such incidents "have demonstrated the challenges faced by women in Afghan society," she added, making no explicit reference to the gold allegations.
The Taliban has asserted full control over around a dozen Afghan embassies abroad — including in Pakistan, China, Turkey and Iran.
Others operate on a hybrid system, with the ambassador gone but embassy staff still carrying out routine consular work such as issuing visas and other documents.
Most countries evacuated their missions from Kabul as the Taliban closed in on the Afghan capital in August 2021, although a handful of embassies — including Pakistan, China and Russia — never shut and still have ambassadors in Kabul.
- In:
- India
- Taliban
- Afghanistan
- Gold Mining
- Dubai
veryGood! (12)
Related
- As the transition unfolds, Trump eyes one of his favorite targets: US intelligence
- These Beetlejuice Gifts & Merch Are So Spook-Tacularly Cute, You’ll Be Saying His Name Three Times
- Harris will sit down with CNN for her first interview since launching presidential bid
- Jury to resume deliberating in trial of ex-politician accused of killing Las Vegas reporter
- Michigan soldier’s daughter finally took a long look at his 250 WWII letters
- Need a table after moving? Pizza Hut offering free 'moving box table' in select cities
- All of You Will Love John Legend's Meaningful Tattoo Tribute to Chrissy Teigen and Kids
- Judge accepts insanity plea from man who attacked Virginia congressman’s office with bat
- ‘Maybe Happy Ending’ review: Darren Criss shines in one of the best musicals in years
- EPA Thought Industry-Funded Scientists Could Support Its Conclusion that a Long-Regulated Pesticide Is Not a Cancer Risk
Ranking
- 'This dude is cool': 'Cross' star Aldis Hodge brings realism to literary detective
- Rapper Sean Kingston and his mother arraigned on fraud and theft charges
- Stormy sky and rainbow created quite a scene above Minnesota Twins’ Target Field
- Lowe’s changes some DEI policies amid legal attacks on diversity programs and activist pressure
- Trump pledged to roll back protections for transgender students. They’re flooding crisis hotlines
- Danny Jansen makes MLB history by appearing in same game for both teams
- Pennsylvania county broke law by refusing to tell voters if it rejected their ballot, judge says
- 'I was trying to survive': Yale Fertility Center patients say signs of neglect were there all along
Recommendation
-
He failed as a service dog. But that didn't stop him from joining the police force
-
Body found in Hilton Head, South Carolina believed to be Massachusetts man who vanished
-
As NFL's ultimate kickoff X-factor, Cordarrelle Patterson could produce big returns for Steelers
-
State trooper among 11 arrested in sex sting
-
MVSU football player killed, driver injured in crash after police chase
-
Former youth center resident testifies against worker accused of rape
-
These Secrets About Mary Poppins Are Sweeter Than a Spoonful of Sugar
-
2 small planes crash in Nebraska less than half an hour apart and kill at least 1 person