Belgium’s Kabul embassy to close in January

KABUL drawing to a close, Belgium has announced closing its Kabul Embassy before the end of January next year.

The Belgian Embassy in the Pakistani capital Islamabad will be in charge of defending Belgian interests in Afghanistan once the Kabul embassy closes. The closure of the embassy will come before the end of January 2015.

“Afghanistan will be added to the jurisdiction of the Belgian Embassy in Islamabad (Pakistan),” Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on Thursday.

It added the Belgian Embassy’s closure in Kabul had been organised in close cooperation with the Ministry of Defense and was scheduled to be completed by the end of January 2015.

The closure has been justified by the upcoming completion of the Belgian military mission in Afghanistan after 10 years of presence in the country.

“This decision must be viewed in the context of a broader exercise of optimisation and rationalisation of the network of diplomatic and consular posts,” the statement said.

“The savings are induced by the current budgetary situation in all government services,” it concluded.

pr/rm/ma

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