The United Arab Emirates has accepted the credentials of an ambassador from Afghanistan’s Taliban government, officials said, becoming just the second country after China to do so.
The oil-rich Gulf state said it was committed to “building bridges” to help the Afghan people, after the Kabul foreign ministry announced on social media that new ambassador Mawlawi Badruddin Haqqani had been received in a ceremony in Abu Dhabi.
The UAE’s growing ties with the Taliban government include the management of Afghan airports by an Emirati firm, GAAC, following the withdrawal of US forces and the Taliban’s return to power in 2021.
The ambassador’s acceptance will be seen as a victory by the Taliban authorities, which remain largely isolated internationally and unrecognised by the United Nations, partly for denying girls access to secondary education.
