Pakistan appoints a new special representative in Afghanistan

May 23. (EUROPE PRESS) –

The Pakistani Embassy in Kabul reported on Tuesday that Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has appointed Asif Durrani, who has been Iran’s ambassador since 2016, as his new special representative in Afghanistan.

Durrani, who was also ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, Tolo News has reported, will thus take up the post at a time when Islamabad and Beijing have opened the door to Afghanistan’s participation in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which It is part of the Belt and Road Initiative.

Durrani will replace Mohamad Sadiq, who resigned last March for personal reasons after holding the position since 2020. After that, the Pakistani prime minister accepted his departure from office, according to the newspaper ‘Dawn’.

Although no country has so far recognized the regime imposed by the Taliban after seizing power in August 2021, the leaders of the three countries have met on different occasions to discuss boosting trade in the region, which is a rapprochement with the ‘de facto’ Afghan authorities.

Pakistan and Afghanistan share a border, the so-called Durand Line, which extends 2,640 kilometers and was established in 1893 after an agreement between the then British Foreign Secretary in India, Mortimer Durand, and the Afghan emir Abdur Rahman Jan to delimit the spheres of influence .

After Pakistan’s independence, Islamabad came to recognize it as its border with Afghanistan, although Kabul did not take such a step. This line divides the Pashtun and Baluch communities living on both sides of the border, which has led to disputes in both countries.