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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 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.
Indian media reports said Wardak was last month stopped by financial intelligence authorities at Mumbai airport on arrival along with her son from Dubai, carrying 25kg 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 without any consular representation in India.