Afghanistan’s top diplomat in India resigned days  after she was reportedly caught by airport  authorities smuggling nearly $2 million worth of  gold into the country. Zakia Wardak, the Afghan Consul-General in  India’s financial capital Mumbai, posted a  statement on social media platform X announcing  her resignation.  Afghanistan’s embassy in New Delhi shut down in  November, more than two years after the Taliban  returned to power in Kabul following the collapse  of the Western-backed government, leaving  Wardak as the country’s most senior representative  in India. “It is with great regret that I announce my decision  to step away from my role at the Consulate and  Embassy in India, effective May 5, 2024,” Wardak  said Saturday. Indian media reports said Wardak was last month  stopped by financial intelligence authorities at  Mumbai airport on arrival from Dubai — along with  her son — carrying 25 kilograms of gold. She was not arrested because of her diplomatic  immunity, the reports said, but the gold — worth  around $1.9 million — was confiscated. Wardak’s resignation leaves thousands of Afghan  nationals, including students and businessmen,  without any consular representation in India.  Most foreign nations — including India — do not  officially recognise Afghanistan’s Taliban  government, but acknowledge them as the de facto  ruling authority. In many Afghan missions, diplomats appointed by  the former government have refused to cede  control of embassy buildings and property to  representatives of the Taliban authorities. Wardak said in the statement that she had  “encountered numerous personal attacks and  defamation” over the past year. Such incidents “have demonstrated the challenges  faced by women in Afghan society”, she added,  making no explicit reference to the gold  allegations. The Taliban authorities have full control of around  a dozen Afghan embassies abroad — including in  Pakistan, China, Turkey and Iran. Others operate on a hybrid system, with the  ambassador gone but embassy staff still carrying  out routine consular work such as issuing visas and  other documents. Most countries evacuated their missions from  Kabul as the Taliban closed in on the Afghan  capital in August 2021, although a handful of  embassies — including Pakistan, China and Russia – – never shut, and still have ambassadors in Kabul.