Afghanistan rejects reports diplomats not returning home

The Afghan Foreign Ministry on Tuesday rejected a report issued by a German media outlet which said diplomats did not return Afghanistan after completing their tenure overseas. "The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan rejects the report written by Hasnain Kazim, the German Spiegel correspondent based in Islamabad, who has presented an inaccurate account about Afghan diplomats not returning to their country after completing their tenure overseas. The Foreign Ministry calls this report incorrect as baseless and one-sided," the ministry said in a press statement. On Monday, The Spiegel reported out of more than 100 Afghan diplomats whose terms were ended only a few of them returned home. "If a small and limited number of Afghans do not return home for personal or family reasons, this must not be represented as lack of commitment and patriotism on the part of Afghan diplomats as a whole," said Ershad Ahmadi, a deputy foreign minister, in the statement. "Ministry wants to clarify that from among the 96 diplomats whose tenures ended this year, 32 of them have received temporary extension of their assignment for work related requirements and based on the advice of the Foreign Ministry. 15 of them have returned to their country, and the rest are going through the final administrative processes and handing over their responsibilities to their successors. None of these remaining diplomats intend to stay behind," the statement noted.