Afghanistan’s Foreign Ministry on Monday welcomed the reopening of Saudi Arabia’s Embassy in Kabul for the first time since the Taliban returned to power in 2021.

On Sunday, the Saudi Embassy in Kabul said on X that it was resuming the mission’s activities “based on the government’s keenness to provide all services to the brotherly Afghan people.”

A deputy spokesman for Afghanistan’s Foreign Ministry, Zia Ahmad Takal, said: “We welcome the reopening of the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Kabul and assure them that the ministry will cooperate in all matters and pay close attention to their safety.”

Takal said authorities were optimistic that the embassy’s reopening would expand relations and cooperation between the two countries, while also addressing the problems and demands of Afghans living in Saudi Arabia in a timely manner.

No country formally recognizes the Taliban as the legitimate rulers of Afghanistan, although a number of countries have diplomatic relations with them.