The foreign relations of Afghanistan are in a transitional phase since the 2021 fall of Kabul to the Taliban and the collapse of the internationally-recognized Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. No country has recognised the new Taliban-run government, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. Although some countries have engaged in informal diplomatic contact with the Islamic Emirate, formal relations remain limited to representatives of the Islamic Republic.
Relations between Afghanistan and the United States began in 1921 under the leaderships of King Amanullah Khan and President Warren G. Harding, respectively. The first contact between the two nations occurred further back in the 1830s when the first recorded person from the United States explored Afghanistan. The United States government foreign aid program provided about $500 million in aid for economic development; the aid ended before the 1978 Saur Revolution. The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 was a turning point in the Cold War, when the United States started to financially support the Afghan resistance. The country, under both the Carter and Reagan administrations committed $3 billion dollars in financial and diplomatic support and along with Pakistan also rendering critical support to the anti-Soviet Mujahideen forces. Beginning in 1980, the United States began admitting thousands of Afghan refugees for resettlement, and provided money and weapons to the Mujahideen through Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). The USSR withdrew its troops in 1989.
Sharif Ghalib is the president of the Canadian Afghan Council (CAC) based in Toronto, Canada. He was serving as Chief Policy Advisor to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Afghanistan. He formerly served as Deputy Chief of Mission (DCM) and Chargé d'affaires of the Embassy of Afghanistan in Ottawa, Canada. Prior to the posting, he served as Deputy Permanent Representative (DPR) and Chargé d'affaires to the United Nations Office in Geneva (UNOG) and Chargé d'affaires at the Embassy of Afghanistan in Bern, Switzerland.
The Embassy of Canada in Afghanistan was the diplomatic mission of the Canadian government located in the Afghan capital city of Kabul. It was responsible for bilateral relations between Canada and Afghanistan. Diplomatic relations between the two countries were re-established on September 5, 2003. The relations were suspended in light of the fall of Kabul, and the Taliban takeover. The most recent Ambassador was Reid Sirrs.
The Embassy of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan in New Delhi is the diplomatic mission of the Afghanistan to India. The chancery is located at 5/50-F Shantipath in Chanakyapuri of New Delhi. In addition to the embassy, Afghanistan also has a consulate general in Mumbai and Hyderabad.
Jawed Ludin is the Deputy Foreign Minister on Political Affairs of Afghanistan. He was appointed on 2011, by President Hamid Karzai. He was Ambassador of Afghanistan in Canada from 2009 to 2012, and had been spokesperson and later chief of staff to President Karzai.
The Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan in Washington, D.C. was the primary diplomatic mission of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to the United States. The building is located at 2341 Wyoming Avenue N.W. in Washington, D.C.'s Kalorama neighborhood. The chancery is built in the Colonial Revival style.
The Embassy of the United States of America in Kabul was the official diplomatic mission of the United States of America to the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. The embassy was housed in a chancery located on Great Massoud Road in the Wazir Akbar Khan neighborhood of the Afghan capital, Kabul, and was built at a cost of nearly $800 million. On August 15, 2021, in the face of a Taliban advance on Kabul, embassy staff relocated to makeshift but secure facilities at Hamid Karzai International Airport. Kabul fell and the chancery building officially closed late August 15.
The Embassy of Afghanistan in Islamabad is the diplomatic mission of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan to Pakistan.
Afghanistan and Indonesia established diplomatic relations on 20 May 1950. The relationship is mostly founded on common religious solidarity, as Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim majority country, and Afghanistan is also a Muslim-majority country. Indonesia has expressed its commitment to support and assist the rebuilding of Post-Taliban Afghanistan in various sectors, including technical training, infrastructure, women's empowerment, higher education, and diplomat training. Indonesia has an embassy in Kabul, while Afghanistan has an embassy in Jakarta. Both nations are full members of Non-Aligned Movement and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.
On June 20, 2016, at around 0600 AFT, a suicide bombing attack claimed to be conducted by the Taliban or the Islamic State in Khorasan Province (IS-KP) hit a convoy of Canadian embassy security guards en route to the embassy in Kabul. The attack took place in the ninth police district in the Benayi area, Kabul, Afghanistan. Thirteen Nepalese and two Indian contractors were killed in the attack.
The contemporary borders of the nations of Afghanistan and Turkmenistan are the products of The Great Game in Central Asia between the British and Russian Empires. As a result, the two countries have some cultural ties, with Afghanistan having 1.2 million Turkmen, the third largest Turkmen population behind Iran and Turkmenistan.
An embassy without a government is a diplomatic mission that represents a deposed government to its host country. Such a mission usually arises from a civil conflict which leads to a regime change from an internationally recognised government to one or more new governments that may or may not be recognised when established for a variety or reasons.
The Taliban has ruled Afghanistan as the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan since taking control by force in 2021, overthrowing the internationally recognized Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. The takeover was widely criticized by the international community, and no countries have extended de jure diplomatic recognition to the new regime, despite nominally maintaining relations with Afghanistan. The Taliban has campaigned for international recognition since the takeover. Several countries have vowed never to recognize the Islamic Emirate, and others have said they will do so only if human rights in the country are respected. Some countries have accredited Taliban diplomats at the chargé d'affaires level despite not recognizing the Islamic Emirate. In September 2023, the People's Republic of China became the first country to formally name a new ambassador to the country since the takeover, and in January 2024 recognized the Taliban's envoy to China; however, the PRC still does not formally recognize the Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan. The United Arab Emirates also accepted a Taliban appointed diplomat as Afghanistan's new ambassador in August 2024.
