Pakistan’s Special Representative on Afghanistan, Asif Durrani, has been removed from his position due to differences over Afghanistan policy, local newspaper Dawn reported.
Durrani was relieved of his duties last Tuesday.
Durrani was appointed in May 2023 with the expectation that he would resolve the stalemate in Islamabad-Kabul relations, particularly regarding TTP. Despite initiatives and goodwill gestures, the deadlock persisted.
Relations between Islamabad and Kabul have turned sour due to attacks in Pakistan. Pakistani officials claim that the attacks are organized in Afghanistan, but the Islamic Emirate denies the claims, saying that Afghanistan is not responsible for Pakistan’s “security failure”.
Though Durrani advocated for a ‘one document’ regime for Afghan visitors, he opposed mass deportations of undocumented Afghans, arguing it would reflect badly on Pakistan’s border controls and harden the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan’s (IEA) stance. He suggested a low-key approach to addressing the issue of illegal Afghans.
He believed Pakistan needed to manage its terrorism problem domestically.
His predecessor, Mohammad Sadiq, had also resigned from the position.