The return of the top diplomat came just days after Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari spoke to Acting Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi….reports Asian Lite News
Ubaid-ur-Rehman Nizamani, Pakistan’s head of the diplomatic mission in Kabul, has returned to the Afghan capital more than four months after he survived an assassination attempt.
Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch confirmed that the Pakistani charge d’affaires returned to Kabul on Monday, The Express Tribune reported.
The return of the top diplomat came just days after Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari spoke to Acting Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi.
Sources said the decision to send back the Pakistani acting ambassador was taken during the telephone call.
Nizamani was on a routine walk inside the embassy compound in Kabul on December 2, 2022, when shooters opened fire at him from a nearby multi-storey building.
He escaped unhurt, but his Pakistani security guard sustained bullet injuries in the legs. Pakistan immediately evacuated the chief diplomat and demanded the Taliban enhance the security of its embassy, The Express Tribune reported.
However, it was not clear at the time that it would take over four months for Pakistan to send back its envoy to Kabul.
The delay was attributed to a lack of security as well as friction between the two sides on a range of issues, particularly the continued attacks by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) terror group.
The development came ahead of the visit of Muttaqi to Pakistan.
The sources said Bilawal extended the formal invitation to his Afghan counterpart during the telephonic conversation.
Though no official confirmation was available, the sources said Muttaqi is expected to travel to Islamabad in the first week of May, The Express Tribune reported.
