MOSCOW, July 12./TASS/. The staff of the Russian Consulate General in Mazar-e-Sharif have been temporarily moved to Uzbekistan for safety reasons, Russian Presidential Envoy for Afghanistan and Director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Second Asian Department Zamir Kabulov told TASS on Monday.
"In order not to put the safety of our staff at risk, we moved them temporarily to the territory of Uzbekistan" from the Afghan city of Hairatan, since the situation there is also unclear.
Kabulov also said that the Russian diplomats in Kabul were in no danger for now. "No, there is no such threat at the moment," the presidential envoy reassured.
On July 5, Kabulov told TASS that the Consulate General in the Afghan city of Mazar-e-Sharif, in the Balkh province, had temporarily suspended its functions because of the deteriorating situation in northern Afghanistan. According to information on the consulate’s news portal, its diplomats were temporarily conducting their consular functions in Hairatan, also located in the Balkh province.
The security situation in Afghanistan has seriously worsened since April, when US President Joe Biden announced plans to withdraw US troops from that country. By July 6, more than 90% of US forces were pulled out of Afghanistan. Other NATO countries are also withdrawing their contingents from the country. Meanwhile, the Taliban (outlawed in Russia) is expanding its offensive, having seized control of dozens of provinces. According to local media, the Taliban controls a number of checkpoints at the borders with Tajikistan, Iran, and Pakistan. Kabul is planning a large-sale counteroffensive against the Taliban.
The Taliban is not going to attack foreign diplomatic missions in Afghanistan, and confirms the safety of the Russian Consulate General’s staff, Suhail Shaheen, a spokesman for the Taliban’s political office told TASS last week. "We said publicly that we are not targeting embassies and consulates all over Afghanistan, particularly those of Russia and other countries," he assured.