Malaysia is not opening government office in Afghanistan: Foreign ministry

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia is not opening any government office in Afghanistan, its Foreign Affairs Ministry said.  

This clarification came after photos of a meeting between Afghanistan’s acting Foreign Affairs Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi and Mr Ahmad Azam Ab Rahman, a special advisor on Afghanistan to Malaysia’s Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah, were posted on Twitter on Sunday (Feb 20). 

The photos were posted on Afghan Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson Abdul Qahar Balkhi’s account, which stated that Mr Ahmad Azam had discussed “increasing humanitarian aid, transparency, Islamic finance and enhancing relations” with Mr Muttaqi.

“Mr. Dato HJ Ahmad Azam Ab Rahman said a flight carrying Malaysian people’s assistant (sic) will arrive in Kabul on February 23, 2022, and that they would open an office in Kabul for the cohesion of aid & economic cooperation,” Mr Balkhi had tweeted. 

Responding to media queries, a spokesperson from Malaysia’s Foreign Affairs Ministry confirmed that Mr Ahmad Azam was in Kabul and clarified that the said office is not a government office. 

“The new office mentioned in the tweet was actually referring to the opening of a new office by Global Peace Mission (GPM), not Malaysia's government office,” the spokesperson said on Monday. 

Mr Ahmad Azam is the chairman of GPM. 

According to its website, GPM is a trust foundation established as a movement protesting the declaration of war by the United States and its allies against Afghanistan after the Sep 11, 2001 events. 

It stated that after Afghanistan was invaded in early October in 2001, the foundation had mobilised humanitarian and medical aid to help war victims. 

Malaysia’s Foreign Affairs Ministry confirmed on Monday that the humanitarian assistance flight mentioned would  depart from Subang Airport on Tuesday. 

Mr Muttaqi, according to the tweets of the Afghan foreign ministry spokesperson, called on Malaysia to find a market for Afghan medical herbs and dried fruit via an air corridor to help Afghanistan develop its economy. 

The Taliban, ousted in 2001 by the United States and its allies, retook Afghanistan in August 2021 after the withdrawal of US and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) militaries following a 2020 agreement. 

In January this year, the Malaysian government said it was waiting to see the stance taken on the Taliban government in Afghanistan by international bodies such as the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), before deciding its own stance. 

Mr Saifuddin, the foreign minister, was quoted by national news agency Bernama as saying that Malaysia had yet to decide on recognising the Taliban government, and was taking a cautious approach.

"For the time being there are no indications to recognise the Taliban government and we don’t want to take any hasty decision,” he had said.