Pakistan’s special representative for Afghanistan Asif Durrani steps down
Asif Durrani
Pakistan’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, Ambassador Asif Durrani, a retired foreign service officer has stepped down from his current role. Sources say his last day in office was on Wednesday (Sep 11).
Durrani who has served as Pakistan’s Ambassador to Iran and theUnited Arab Emirates(UAE), was appointed to the position in May 2023 after his predecessor Sadiq Khan resigned from the position.
Sources say that Durrani opted to leave the position citing personal reasons and that he has gone back to being a senior fellow at an Islamabad-based think tank, a position he held before taking the role as the Special Representative on Afghanistan.
As a special representative, Durrani’s tenure was marred by challenges when it came to the bilateral aspect of the Pakistan-Afghanistan relationship. While outstanding issues on visas, one document regime, and transit trade were resolved to a greater extent between the two countries during his tenure, at the same time the issue of terrorism continued to dominate the tumultuous trajectory of the bilateral relationship.
While continuing to press on the issue of girls' education, Ambassador Durrani was of the opinion internally that one issue should not dominate the course of engagement with neighboursnext door, in this case, the Taliban, especially when they are now a geopolitical reality by being in charge of Afghanistan.
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In his fivevisits to Afghanistan and over a dozen in-person meetings with the Taliban representatives in Kabul, Doha, and elsewhere, Ambassador Durrani stressed the Taliban's need to give up terrorism as a tool for enabling and forcing them to talk with neighbours.
During Ambassador Durrani’s tenure, Pakistanfirst conductedan air raid onAfghanistan in March this year, following a deadly terror attack inside Pakistani territory on their military.
Ambassador Durrani was appointed as Special Representative in May 2023 by the then PDM government.He was retained in the same role by the caretaker government and continued to be in the position when the incumbent governmentformallytook charge in March 2024, earlier this year following elections.