RASC News Agency: Several individuals who have visited the Afghanistan Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan, have reported systemic corruption, extortion, and fraudulent commission-based dealings within the embassy’s consular section. The embassy’s officials and staff, appointed by the Taliban administration, are accused of orchestrating a well-entrenched network of bribery, where certain consular employees in collaboration with external brokers demand illicit payments for routine services, including the issuance of marriage certificates, visas, bachelorhood verification letters, and criminal clearance documents.
Numerous complainants have emphasized that bribery within the embassy has reached unprecedented levels. One individual, who sought to obtain a marriage certificate, revealed that he was coerced into paying 20,000 Pakistani rupees to a broker in order to receive the document. “They gave me no option but to pay. Without the money, they wouldn’t have issued the certificate,” he stated. He further explained, “The consular office deliberately created bureaucratic hurdles, such as insisting on the presence of the bride’s parents at the embassy, just to delay the process. Eventually, through a broker with strong connections inside the consular section, I managed to obtain the certificate after paying a hefty bribe.”
Another individual shared a similar experience, stating that he was forced to pay 10,000 Pakistani rupees in exchange for his marriage certificate. Meanwhile, multiple sources have accused high-ranking embassy officials, including the ambassador and the newly appointed consul, of being directly complicit in the corruption. According to these reports, brokers operate openly outside the embassy, facilitating the expedited processing of documents in exchange for bribes with the full knowledge and cooperation of consular staff, who act without fear of oversight or accountability.
These revelations have sparked outrage among Afghanistani expatriates, who now find themselves at the mercy of an institution that, rather than serving their needs, has become an apparatus of exploitation. The allegations have also raised serious concerns about the embassy’s integrity and the Taliban administration’s failure to implement transparency and governance in its diplomatic missions abroad.
