PNN – The former ambassador of Pakistan to Iran, who was appointed as the country’s special representative for Afghanistan affairs since June last year, was dismissed from his position, which, according to informed sources, is a sign of the intensification of differences during Pakistan’s rule over how to manage tense relations with Afghanistan.
According to the report of Pakistan News Network, the Prime Minister of Pakistan had appointed Asif Ali Khan Durrani to the position of the country’s special representative in Afghanistan.
Durrani served as Pakistan’s ambassador in Tehran and then retired.
Pakistani media, quoting the government’s official circular, reflected the dismissal of the special representative for Afghanistan affairs and announced that diplomatic sources assessed the reason for this dismissal to be the escalation of differences between the government and Durrani’s positions regarding the management of relations with Afghanistan.
After the Doha agreement between the US and the Taliban in mid-summer 2020, the government of Islamabad appointed a special representative for Afghanistan affairs for the first time. Mohammad Sadiq Khan, who was in this position before Durrani, also resigned from his position in the summer of 2023.
The website of the English-language newspaper Dawn of Pakistan wrote in this regard: The country’s military leaders were unhappy with the performance of the Special Representative for Afghanistan Affairs, while Durrani was increasingly frustrated that his recommendations and proposed policies were being continuously ignored by the government.
Since the Taliban came to power in Afghanistan in the summer of 2021, and especially after the failure of the talks between the Islamabad government and the terrorist group Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan with the mediation of the Afghan Taliban, the attacks of the Pakistani Taliban have increased in this country.
In July of this year, Durrani met with a delegation of the Afghan Taliban led by Zabihullah Mujahid in Doha, and the meeting was described as positive by the Taliban.
Dawn News wrote: Durrani was against the mass deportation of illegal Afghan immigrants and argued that it would have a bad effect on Pakistan’s border control with Afghanistan and would make Kabul’s position tougher.