Nicaragua has appointed a non-resident ambassador to Afghanistan and thanked the Taliban government for granting approval to its diplomat, according to press reports released this Saturday.
“We thank the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, its people, its government, for the approval they have given to our comrade Michael Campbell” as ambassador, said Vice President Rosario Murillo on Friday, according to the pro-government website El19digital.
“Many thanks to those people and especially to the supreme leader of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan and to the Foreign Minister,” emphasized Murillo, wife of President Daniel Ortega.
Campbell currently serves as Nicaragua’s concurrent ambassador to China, and from his office in Beijing, he will manage relations between the Central American country and Afghanistan.
Nicaragua thus becomes one of the few countries to have diplomats accredited to the government of Afghanistan, led by the supreme leader of the Taliban, Hibatullah Akhundzada.
The Taliban returned to power in August 2021, following the withdrawal of US and allied troops.
Since their return to power, the Taliban have applied an ultra-strict interpretation of Islam, increasing measures against women’s freedoms in particular, a policy described as “gender apartheid” by the UN.
