Pakistan quietly allows Taliban ‘diplomats' to take charge of Afghan embassy: Report

NEW DELHI: Pakistan has secretly let all Taliban-appointed "diplomats" take charge of the Afghanistan embassy and consulates in the country, Dawn reported on Saturday.
While Islamabad is yet to recognise Taliban as the legitimate government in Kabul, it has been issuing visas to the appointed "diplomats", the report said.
According to the report, Sardar Muhammad Shokaib has started working as the first secretary in the Afghan embassy in Islamabad, while Hafiz Mohibullah, Mullah Ghulam Rasool and Mullah Muhammad Abbas have been assigned to the Peshawar, Quetta and Karachi consulates of Afghanistan.
Shokaib would effectively be the Afghan charge d'affaires in Islamabad.
No details about Shokaib were shared but according to a report by Voice of America, he is an ethnic Pashtun from Zabul province who served in the Information and Cultural Department in southern Kandahar and was associated with a Taliban magazine.
The Afghan embassy in Pakistan has been without an ambassador since July when the last envoy under the previous regime, Najibullah Alikhil, left because of controversy due to alleged abduction of his daughter Silsila Alikhil.
Pakistan's Foreign Office spokesman Asim Iftikhar tried to play down the new appointments by saying that it was an "administrative matter".
“With regard to appointment of new staff in the Afghan embassy, this is an administrative matter and is meant to enable the embassy to perform its functions, primarily the consular functions as you are aware there are millions of Afghan refugees in Pakistan and there are visa issues as well,” he said.
Pakistan has been trying to convince the world to diplomatically engage with the Taliban after they established their de-facto control on Afghanistan on August 15.
According to reports, Pakistan ISI even helped during the government formation talks of Taliban with the agency's chief rushing to Kabul when a clash erupted between Taliban and Haqqanis.
(With inputs from PTI)