Pakistan's special envoy for Afghanistan steps down

By Aamir Latif

KARACHI, Pakistan (AA) – Mohammad Sadiq, Pakistan's senior diplomat on Wednesday stepped down as special representative for Afghanistan.

“After serving close to three years as Pakistan’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, I have requested the government that the time had come for me to move on and focus on my personal pursuits — family, books and agriculture/environment,” Sadiq said in a series of tweets.

He was appointed to the crucial position in June 2020 and served for slightly less than three years.

His resignation coincides with the third anniversary of the Doha Peace agreement signed by the US government with the Afghan Taliban in Qatar on Feb. 29, 2020, which paved the way for them to recapture the country in August 2021.

"I deeply appreciate the hard work of many of my colleagues who spent long hours to make the Pakistan-Afghanistan relationship work,” Sadiq, who also served as Islamabad's top diplomat in Kabul from 2008 to 2014, added.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif accepted his resignation.