Afghanistan–United Kingdom relations

Afghan-British relations

Afghanistan	United Kingdom

Afghanistan-United Kingdom relations refer to bilateral relations between Afghanistan and United Kingdom. There has been an Afghan embassy in London since 1922^[1] though there was no accredited Afghan ambassador from 1981 to 2001.^[1]

History

A series of Anglo-Afghan wars between 1839 and 1919 have historically shaped the backdrop for relations between Afghanistan and the United Kingdom. After nearly a century of Anglo-Indian influence in Afghanistan, the state was declared independent in 1919. The United Kingdom did not contribute nor actively oppose the communist led Saur Revolution, it opposed the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and had no involvement in the series of civil wars that followed the Soviet withdrawal in 1989.

UK involvement in Afghanistan (2001-14)

In 2001-2014, British combat forces served with NATO in Afghanistan. Their main base as Camp Bastion in Heimland province in the south.^[2] All but 180 trainers are scheduled to leave in late 2014.^[3]

Diplomatic missions

Embassy of Afghanistan in London
Location	South Kensington, London
Address	31 Princes Gate, London, SW7 1QQ
Ambassador	Mohammad Daud Yaar

The Embassy of Afghanistan in London is the diplomatic mission of Afghanistan in the United Kingdom.^[4] The building now used for the embassy was constructed by Charles James Freake in the late 1850s.^[5]

Earlier residents include the industrialist Charles Wright, chairman of Baldwins,^[6] and George Whiteley, 1st Baron Marchamley.^[7]

It was bought by Afghanistan in 1925.^[1]

Gallery

• 

  Plaque outside the embassy in Dari and English

• 

  The embassy

References

1. "A Brief History of the Embassy and Ambassadors of Afghanistan in London". 5 December 2013.
2. BBC News, "Inside Camp Bastion" 24 September 2012 online
3. See BBC News, "UK troops 'to leave Afghanistan as planned" (27 May 2014)
4. "The London Diplomatic List" (PDF). 12 December 2013.
5. "Princes Gate and Princes Gardens: the Freake Estate: Development by C.J. Freake", Survey of London, volume 45: Knightsbridge (2000), pp. 191–205. Available here at British History Online. Accessed 6 February 2014.
6. "Princes Gate and Princes Gardens: The Freake Estate: Some Former Residents", Survey of London, volume 45: Knightsbridge (2000), pp. 209–210. Available here at British History Online. Accessed 6 February 2014.
7. The Constitutional Yearbook, 1901.

Further reading

• Finlan, Alastair. Contemporary Military Strategy and the Global War on Terror: US and UK Armed Forces in Afghanistan and Iraq 2001-2012 (2014)
• Nawid, Senzil. 1997. “The State, the Clergy, and British Imperial Policy in Afghanistan During the 19th and Early 20th Centuries”. International Journal of Middle East Studies 29 (4). Cambridge University Press: 581–605. http://www.jstor.org/stable/164403.

External links

• Official site of the Afghanistan Embassy in London