KABUL (SW) – The Afghan government nominated Waleed Tamim, the former head of a petroleum company – who had several embezzlement cases against him, as the ambassador to India.
This nomination has been met with reactions both inside the country and now in India.
Salam Watandar has now obtained documents suggesting that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has asked the directorate of protocol to approve appointment of Tamim.
A senior source at the Afghan Embassy in India – who did not want to be named, told SW though no response or confirmation has been received from the host country yet, but naming the accused of embezzlement as ambassadors has been labelled as ‘shameful’.
The MOFA has not officially responded, but a source who did not want to be named in the report, told SW that the ministry has acted in accordance with a presidential decree. Waleed Tamim is currently acting head of the revenue and customs department at the ministry. The Ministry of Finance said Tamim will be in charge of this department until his appointment as ambassador.
In diplomatic norms, rejecting a country’s pick for ambassador is rare.
In another news, a source from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that Ahmad Seir Dawoodzai has been appointed chief of staff at the Afghan embassy in Abu Dhabi. According to the source, after the President’s petition for the appointment of Dawoodzai was rejected citing dearth of vacancy, the Presidency appointed him as the third highest ranking official in the Afghan embassy in the United Arab Emirates.
Social media activists described appointment of Dawoodzi, son of Mohammad Omar Dawoodzai, head of the State Builder election campaign teams as a political favor ahead of the presidential election. Recent appointments have been met with a backlash from presidential candidates and critics of the government.
We tried to have the views of the President and Mohammad Omar Dawoodzai in this regard, but to no avail.
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