Indonesia mission in Kabul left dormant

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Indonesia will await recommendations from the United Nations regarding Afghanistan before resuming diplomatic relations with any future Kabul government in the wake of the Taliban regime's fall, an official said on Thursday.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Director for Africa and the Middle East Primo Alwi Joelianto said that Jakarta would adopt a stance taken by the UN that, on Wednesday, endorsed international efforts to support the establishment of a new government in Afghanistan.

"We never severed diplomatic ties with Afghanistan (under the administration of former president Burhanuddin Rabbani) and we we do not acknowledge the Taliban regime, so in the past five years, after the Taliban takeover, we practically have not had any political relations with Afghanistan," Primo told The Jakarta Post.

"Of course, we have to wait for a UN decision before resuming diplomatic relations with any future Kabul government," he stressed.

Indonesia, which has had full diplomatic ties with Afghanistan since the 1950s, recalled its embassy staff from Kabul in 1998.

"We have a building that was used as the residence of our ambassador in Kabul. We assigned a local employee to take care of the place," he said, adding that Afghanistan also kept its embassy in Jakarta after the Rabbani administration was deposed.

"The former Rabbani administration recalled its ambassador in 1998 and replaced him with charge d'affaires Fateh Muhammad Shirzai. We still have regular contact with the representative," he said, noting that the Indonesian government has helped finance the representative since 1996.

Meanwhile, ministry spokesman Wahid Supriyadi reaffirmed on Thursday Indonesia's readiness to join a UN peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan and made a fresh call on the U.S. to halt military strikes during the Islamic holy month of Ramadhan.

"We stick to our stance. If we join the peacekeeping force, our purpose is to maintain peace and not to see continuing air strikes," Wahid noted.

Wahid explained that Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirayuda was in New York to attend the UN General Assembly scheduled for Friday and that establishment of a UN peacekeeping force for a post-Taliban government would be discussed.

He also said that Indonesia would have to receive a formal request before the government agreed to contribute personnel to a peacekeeping force in Afghanistan.