Afghan forces recover 2 abducted Pakistani diplomats

By Aamir Latif
KARACHI, Pakistan (AA) - Afghan security forces have recovered two Pakistani diplomats, who were abducted in eastern Afghanistan last month, Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.
According to a statement issued by the Foreign Ministry, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani telephoned Pakistan’s Charge d’Affaires in Kabul to inform him about the recovery of abducted official.
On June 16, the diplomats based in Consulate General of Pakistan in eastern Jalalabad city were abducted while they were heading to Torkham on way back to their homeland.
No group had claimed responsibility for the kidnapping.
Both Kabul and Islamabad declined to comment on when and where the security operation was conducted, and which militant group was involved in the abduction.
Jalalabad, the capital of Nangarhar province, has been home to different militant groups, including Pakistani and Afghan Taliban. Daesh has also established a foothold in the region.
Later, the statement said, the two officials were handed over to the Pakistan Embassy in Kabul by the officials of the Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
They would be flown back to Pakistan to join their families at earliest, it added.
Pakistan’s Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua talked to Afghan Deputy Foreign Minister Hekmat Karzai and conveyed her country’s “deep gratitude” to the Afghan government for safe recovery of the diplomats, the statement concluded.
Diplomatic relations between the two neighbors have been tensed with both accusing each other of not doing enough to tackle Pakistani and Afghan Taliban.