Restoration of Bilateral Relations & Opening of the New Embassy

With the demise of the Taliban regime and the subsequent Bonn Agreement, which established the Interim Administration of Afghanistan under Chairman Hamid Karzai, official relations with Japan were restored on November 27, 2002. The re-opening of the embassy on December 16, 2002 signaled a new era of full diplomatic ties; the first since 1978.

Chairman Hamid Karzai attended the Tokyo Donors' Conference on Afghanistan in advance of the embassy's opening in January 2002. In November 2002, Foreign Minister Abdullah also paid a visit to Japan. In addition, President Hamid Karzai attended the Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration Conference hosted by the Japanese government on January 20-23, 2003.