2. Previous Function Zakia Wardak:
Consulate General in Mumbai India (20250503)

3. Biodata:

Mrs. Zakia Wardak was born 1984 in Afghanistan. She is an Afghan architect, politician, and businesswoman. Wardak is an advocate for inclusion and women's rights. She is from Kabul. In 2018, she ran for a seat in the 2018 Afghan parliamentary election. Zakia Wardak and Mohammad Ebrahim Khel, the former consuls of the Afghan government in Mumbai and Hyderabad of India, officially reopened the Afghan embassy in Delhi on Thursday, Nov 11, 2023 in cooperation with the Taliban's foreign ministry.
 

Zakia herself is an American citizen who returned to Afghanistan in 2009. Hailing from a family with a history of involvement in jihad against the Soviet Union, her father, General Abdul Ali Khan Wardak, fought in the war against the former Soviet Union. Zakia Wardak studied at Kabul Polytechnic University and has a master's degree in architecture. Following her return to Kabul, she had been engaged in various projects alongside her husband, taking advantage of the growing presence of non-governmental organisations.

Zakia Wardak then established a construction company and secured projects from the US military. With increased financial resources, she became interested in politics, ultimately participating in the parliamentary elections of 2018.

This attempt was unsuccessful and Wardak could not secure a seat in the House of Representatives. However, she managed to secure connections with senior government officials in Afghanistan. One of her daughters became a colleague of Hanif Atmar, the National Security Advisor, at the time. Later, Atmar helped Wardak get appointed as the consul general of Afghanistan to Mumbai, India.

Delhi supports those who have direct connections with the Taliban and Wardak is one of them. Many diplomats of the former government left India and those who remain in the country, support the Taliban and are in contact with the foreign ministry of the group.

She was appointed consul of Afghanistan in Mumbai during the Ashraf Ghani government and was the first Afghan woman diplomat to collaborate with the Taliban, which faced severe criticism from Afghan citizens at that time. Wardak had taken charge as the acting ambassador of Afghanistan to New Delhi since late 2023 after working as the Afghan Consul General in Mumbai for over two years.
 
She resigned from afghan Consul General post on Saturday, May 04, 2024, following reports of gold smuggling. The Times of India has reported that Wardak was caught at Mumbai airport with 25 kilograms of gold smuggled from Dubai.
 

While announcing her resignation, Wardak said on X that over the past year, she had encountered numerous personal attacks and defamation not only directed towards her but also towards her close family and extended relatives.

“These attacks, which appear to be organized, have severely impacted my ability to effectively operate in my role and have demonstrated the challenges faced by women in Afghan society who strive to modernize and bring positive change amidst ongoing propaganda campaigns,” she said.