Islamabad: 32-year-old career diplomat Asif Ali Khan Durrani has designated as a special representative on Afghanistan.
Durrani, appointed by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif two months after Mohammad Sadiq resigned in March after almost three years. After the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government’s Kabul peace talks with the proscribed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) failed, Sadiq resigned.
Durrani will report to the PM Office after taking office. Durrani visited Hina Rabbani Khar on Tuesday.
While, Durrani’s appointment comes as the CPEC expanded into Afghanistan to connect landlocked Central Asia to the globe.
The foreign ministers of China and Afghanistan met in Islamabad earlier this month to discuss realistic ways to revive the Afghan economy by generating economic activity.
The three sides pledged to maximise Afghanistan’s regional connectivity potential. “Reaffirming their commitment to further trilateral cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and jointly extending the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor to Afghanistan.”
As terrorism continues to rise, including the recent demolition of girls’ schools in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Durrani’s appointment is critical.
Moreover, Afghanistan’s Acting Foreign Minister Mawlawi Amir Khan Muttaqi visited Pakistan earlier this month. He urged Islamabad and the TTP, which is responsible for most assaults in the nation, to talk.
Kabul brokered multiple rounds of talks between Islamabad and the outlawed TTP. But these collapsed last year and the militant group began terror actions.
