Afghanistan’s embassy in India on Sunday ceased its operations, more than two years after the ouster of the former Western-backed government in Kabul.

The embassy said it was forced to close due to lack of cooperation from the Indian authorities.

“The Embassy has experienced a notable absence of crucial support from the host government, which has hindered our ability to carry out our duties effectively,” the embassy said in a statement posted on X, formerly Twitter.

The diplomatic mission was not reporting to the Taliban government in Kabul.

“It is with profound sadness, regret, and disappointment that the Embassy of Afghanistan in New Delhi announces this decision to cease its operations,” the statement added.

The building will likely be handed over to the Indian authorities.

While New Delhi does not recognise the Taliban government that returned to power in 2021, it had allowed the Afghan embassy to continue operations under the ambassador and mission staff appointed by former president Ashraf Ghani, who fled Kabul as US troops pulled out.

The statement said it had been “increasingly challenging” to continue operations due to cuts in staff and resources, including a “lack of timely and sufficient support from visa renewal for diplomats”.

Reports say thousands of Afghan students in India face visa problems that the embassy failed to resolve after a lacklustre response from the Indian authorities.

Read: Fact check: Afghan govt bars citizens from travelling to Pakistan

The closure also follows reports that the ambassador and other senior diplomats left India in recent months, with infighting among those remaining in New Delhi.

But the statement said it “categorically refutes any baseless claims regarding internal strife” among embassy staff, and denied any diplomats were “using the crisis to seek asylum in a third country”.

India will take control of the embassy in a caretaker capacity, it added.