TOKYO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 31st August, 2021) Japan is considering relocating its Afghanistan diplomatic mission from Istanbul, where it is temporarily based, to Doha, Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said on Tuesday.
The Japanese embassy in Afghanistan suspended its operations on August 15 after the Taliban (terrorist organization, banned in Russia) takeover of Kabul, with the staff evacuated. A temporary diplomatic mission for Afghanistan was opened in Istanbul.
"I believe that Doha of Qatar is going to be very important. I think this is going to be the place where various communications will take place ... We will be relocating [our embassy] to Qatar, and the ambassador will also be relocated to this temporary location," Motegi told a press conference.
After the US completed its troop withdrawal from Afghanistan on August 30, ending the 20-year military presence in the Central Asian country, the Kabul airport came under the full control of the Islamist movement.
Japan's Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi has since ordered the Self-Defense Forces to finish the evacuation from Afghanistan.
