According to Eurasianet, the Taliban regime in Afghanistan accidently transferred money to the Afghan Embassy in Tajikistan and is now asking for the money to be returned. The mission has refused to return the money, as its head is a supporter of the ousted government and in firm opposition to the Taliban.

The money had been earmarked for funding a school for refugee children in Tajikistan by former Afghan president Ashraf Ghani’s government but when Ghani was ousted, the transfer did not go through.

Later the money was released but it is unknown if the Taliban-run Finance Ministry actually knew where the money will ultimately go.

A source at the embassy confirmed that a transfer had been made, but they also added that the amount may be $400,000, instead of the assumed $800,000. The source also confirmed that the transfer was made in September.

They further said that the Taliban government had asked for the money in November but the request was not entertained.

Even though the school that the money was destined for never came into fruition but for the last four months the money has been used to pay salaries to teachers and embassy personnel. The source added that the money is being utilised for the needs of both the embassy and Afghan citizens.

In either case, the money will not be transferred back to the Taliban as the host government in Tajikistan considers the Taliban a terrorist organisation.

The acting Afghan ambassador to Tajikistan, Zahir Aghbar, has emerged as a vocal opponent to the Taliban regime and has spoken in support of the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan, or NRF.

Tajikistan has likewise offered implicit, if cautious, support to the NRF. President Emomali Rahmon has cast his government’s reluctance to acknowledge Taliban rule as solidarity with the ethnic Tajik population in Afghanistan, which he says has been excluded from the new dispensation in Kabul.