Afghanistan withdraws ambassador and diplomats from Pakistan capital Islamabad
- The move follows the kidnapping of the Afghan ambassador’s daughter, the Afghan foreign ministry said on Sunday
- Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan has assigned the matter top priority and said he wants the culprits caught within 48 hours
Washington’s point man in talks aimed at ending decades of war in Afghanistan made a brief visit Monday to Pakistan as relations between Islamabad and Kabul reached a new low.
Zalmay Khalilzad’s visit came just hours after Afghanistan withdrew its ambassador from Pakistan late Sunday after the diplomat’s daughter was brutally attacked last week.
The US envoy met with Pakistan’s powerful army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa but nothing was immediately known of their discussions.
Pakistan and Afghanistan have a long and troubled history, their relationship fraught with mistrust and suspicion. Each accuses the other of fomenting violence on its territory while also harbouring its enemies.
Pakistan also hosts nearly 2 million Afghans, refugees from four decades of war in their homeland, and many in Afghanistan have grown up as refugees in Pakistan before returning.
Khalilzad arrived in Islamabad from Qatar where the Taliban and Afghan government representatives have held two days of talks that ended late on Sunday, with a promise by the warring sides to meet again.
