Moldovan President Maia Sandu has criticized the issuance of visas to a delegation from Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities, saying the visit resulted from a failure by government officials to understand and properly follow Moldova’s policy toward the group.
Speaking to Jurnal TV, Sandu said one of the deputy ministers at Moldova’s Ministry of Agriculture had failed to verify the government’s position on the Taliban before submitting the visa request for the Afghan delegation.
According to Sandu, officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also mistakenly assumed that the request had already been approved because it had been submitted by a senior government official.
The Moldovan president described the incident as “shameful” and called for disciplinary action against those responsible for the decision.
Sandu’s remarks indicate that the visa issuance was not the result of a deliberate shift in Moldova’s foreign policy toward the Taliban, but rather what she described as a failure of internal coordination and due diligence.
Moldova has not formally recognized the Taliban authorities as Afghanistan’s legitimate government. The episode has nevertheless raised questions about how visa applications involving representatives of governments or authorities that Moldova does not recognize are reviewed and approved.
The Moldovan government is now expected to examine how the request moved through the relevant ministries and whether officials failed to follow established foreign-policy procedures.
