Afghanistan–Israel relations
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Afghanistan–Israel relations refer to the bilateral ties between Afghanistan and the
State of Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
. The two countries have never had formal diplomatic relations, and Afghanistan has never recognized Israel since the latter's independence in 1948.
Zablon Simintov Zablon Simintov (; he, זבולון סימן-טוב; born 1959), also known as Zebulon Simentov is an Afghan Jew, former carpet trader and restaurateur. Before his evacuation from Afghanistan to Israel in 2021, he was widely known as the only ...
, who lived in Kabul and managed Afghanistan's only remaining
synagogue A synagogue, ', 'house of assembly', or ', "house of prayer"; Yiddish: ''shul'', Ladino: or ' (from synagogue); or ', "community". sometimes referred to as shul, and interchangeably used with the word temple, is a Jewish house of worshi ...
, was thought to be the last Jew still living in Afghanistan. However, shortly after the
2021 Taliban offensive A military offensive by the Taliban insurgent group and other allied militants led to the fall of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan based in Kabul and marked the end of the nearly 20-year-old War in Afghanistan, that had begun following the ...
, it was discovered that his lost relative, Tova Moradi, was actually the last Jew in Afghanistan after Israeli businessman
Mordechai Kahana Mordechai (Moti) Kahana (; born February 28, 1968, Jerusalem, Israel) is an Israeli-American businessman and philanthropist. He is most notable for his work for the Refugees of the Syrian Civil War, civil war refugees in Syria. Biography Kahana ...
arranged for Simintov's evacuation to Israel on 7 September 2021; Moradi also made ''
aliyah Aliyah (, ; he, עֲלִיָּה ''ʿălīyyā'', ) is the immigration of Jews from Jewish diaspora, the diaspora to, historically, the geographical Land of Israel, which is in the modern era chiefly represented by the Israel, State of Israel ...
'' to Israel on 29 October 2021. Simintov's desire to leave Afghanistan stemmed from his concerns over possibly being attacked by more radical Islamist terrorist groups such as the Islamic State – KP rather than the Taliban.


History

In the 1980s, Israel cooperated with the United States, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and other countries as part of Operation Cyclone, where it indirectly provided armaments to the Afghan mujahideen, who were fighting the Soviet-backed Afghan government as well as the Soviet Union itself. Thousands of mujahideen fighters, particularly from the Hezb-e Islami militia of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, were reportedly trained by Israeli military instructors.
Akhtar Abdur Rahman Akhtar Abdur Rahman Khan NI(M), HI(M), TI(M), SBt (Urdu: اختر عبد الرحمن‎; 11 June 1924 – 17 August 1988), was a Pakistani senior army general who served as the 5th Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee of the Pakistan ...
, the then-head of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence, allegedly allowed Israeli personnel into Pakistan during this time. Historically, Afghan royals have proclaimed an origin story that claims that their ancestor is the prominent Hebrew patriarch, Jacob. There are also origin theories among some Pashtun tribes that claim their descent from Saul, the first monarch of the
United Kingdom of Israel The United Monarchy () in the Hebrew Bible refers to Israel and Judah under the reigns of Saul, David, and Solomon. It is traditionally dated to have lasted between and . According to the biblical account, on the succession of Solomon's son Re ...
. In a 2005 interview in Kabul with a reporter from the Israeli newspaper '' Yedioth Ahronoth'', former Afghan president Hamid Karzai hinted at a desire to establish formal ties with Israel, stating: "when there is further progress Middle East peace process">Israeli–Palestinian peace process">Middle East peace process and the
Palestinians Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...
begin to get a state of their own, Afghanistan will be glad to have full relations with Israel." He also revealed that he had met Israeli politician
Shimon Peres Shimon Peres (; he, שמעון פרס ; born Szymon Perski; 2 August 1923 – 28 September 2016) was an Israeli politician who served as the eighth prime minister of Israel from 1984 to 1986 and from 1995 to 1996 and as the ninth president of ...
several times, and called him a "dear man, a real warrior for peace." With regards to international relations after the Taliban seizure of Afghanistan in 2021, Taliban spokesperson
Suhail Shaheen Muhammad Suhail Shaheen (Pashto/Dari: , , ) is a Taliban member who is currently the head of the Political Office in Doha. He edited the English-language, state-owned Afghan newspaper '' The Kabul Times'' during the first Islamic Emirate of Afgh ...
told the Russian news agency ''
Sputnik Sputnik 1 (; see § Etymology) was the first artificial Earth satellite. It was launched into an elliptical low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957 as part of the Soviet space program. It sent a radio signal back to Earth for t ...
'': "Of course, we won't have any relations with Israel. We want to have relations with other countries; Israel is not among these countries. We would like to have relations with all the regional countries and neighbouring countries as well as Asian countries."


See also

*
Foreign relations of Afghanistan The foreign relations of Afghanistan are in a transitional phase since the 2021 fall of Kabul to the Taliban and the collapse of the internationally-recognized Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. No country has recognised the new regime, the Isla ...
* Foreign relations of Israel * History of the Jews in Afghanistan


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Afghanistan-Israel relations Israel Bilateral relations of Israel