The

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia ( The Middle East). It is located at t ...

has a small humanitarian and peacekeeping military presence in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

. UAE troops have been welcomed by the country as allied Muslim soldiers and the Emirati soldiers have complimented the Afghan hospitality they encounter. Prior to this, the UAE and some Arab/Persian Gulf states supported the Mujahideen government and the Taliban government. Around 300,000 Afghan citizens work in the UAE where many work in the fields of construction and agriculture, and as business people in

Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...

and Abu Dhabi. Some of them could be Iranians or Pakistanis using false

Afghan passport The Afghan passport is issued by the Central Passport Office of the Ministry of Interior in Kabul, Afghanistan. Every national of Afghanistan with a valid Afghan identity card (Tazkira) can apply for and receive it. It is renewable every 5-10 ye ...

s. On January 10, 2017, five diplomats from the UAE who were present to inaugurate a number of UAE backed projects in the city, were killed in a bombing of Humayun Azizi guest house in

Kandahar City Kandahar (; Kandahār, , Qandahār) is a city in Afghanistan, located in the south of the country on the Arghandab River, at an elevation of . It is Afghanistan's second largest city after Kabul, with a population of about 614,118. It is the ca ...

. The UAE's Ambassador to Afghanistan, Juma Al Kaabi, was wounded and later died of his wounds. In 2021,

Ashraf Ghani Mohammad Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai (born 19 May 1949) is an Afghan politician, academic, and economist who served as the president of Afghanistan from September 2014 until August 2021, when his government was overthrown by the Taliban. Born in ...

, the former Afghanistan president fled to

Tajikistan Tajikistan (, ; tg, Тоҷикистон, Tojikiston; russian: Таджикистан, Tadzhikistan), officially the Republic of Tajikistan ( tg, Ҷумҳурии Тоҷикистон, Jumhurii Tojikiston), is a landlocked country in Centr ...

, then to

Oman Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of ...

, and then to the UAE, where he was granted asylum after the Taliban seized

Kabul Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into 22 municipal districts. Acco ...

. A few weeks later, after the US and most countries pulled out their citizens, a UAE plane carrying aid landed at Kabul Airport, making it the first foreign plane to land there in a while. The UAE played a significant role in the recovery process after the June 2022 earthquake. Days after the disaster, the UAE provided 30 metric tonnes of aid. An additional 16 metric tonnes of medical supplies arrived in the affected area in early July. A

field hospital A field hospital is a temporary hospital or mobile medical unit that takes care of casualties on-site before they can be safely transported to more permanent facilities. This term was initially used in military medicine (such as the Mobile A ...

was established in Khost. In February 2023, UAE decided to reduce its diplomatic mission in Afghanistan, amid reports that the terrorist group ISIL was able to infiltrate Kabul's Green Zone, which serves as the location the UAE's Afghanistan embassy, with explosive laden vehicles.

References

Bilateral relations of the United Arab Emirates {{UnitedArabEmirates-stub