NEW DELHI, May 5, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - 
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 platform X 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 last month 
stopped by financial intelligence authorities at 
Mumbai airport on arrival from Dubai -- along with 
her son -- carrying 25 kilograms 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 recognise Afghanistan's Taliban 
government, but acknowledge them 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 authorities have full control of 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.