Pakistani authorities made it loud and clear on Friday that Islamabad has no plan to close its Foreign Mission in Afghanistan.
The statement was issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan on Friday following a terrorist attack on Pakistan’s Embassy in Kabul.
” In response to a media query, regarding today’s attack on Pakistan Embassy in Kabul, the Spokesperson said there are no plans to close the embassy or withdraw diplomats from Kabul. Pakistan is in contact with the Interim Government in Afghanistan and enhanced security measures are being taken to protect Pakistani diplomatic personnel and Missions in Afghanistan,” a statement issued from Pakistan’s Foreign Office stated on Friday.
According to reuters, Pakistan’s embassy in Kabul came under attack on Friday with gunfire wounding a Pakistani security guard, officials said, in what Islamabad called an attempt to assassinate its head of mission, who was unhurt.
On Friday, in a separate attack, one person was killed in a suicide bombing near the office of the Hezb-e-Islami party of ex-prime minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.
It was not immediately clear who was behind the embassy attack, which came just days after Pakistan’s minister of state for foreign affairs led a team to Kabul to meet Taliban authorities to ease tensions along the border between the two countries. Analysts said, the attack could be a failed attempt to sabotage Hina Rabbani Khar’s successful visit to Kabul which further brought two brotherly countries of Pakistan and Afghanistan together.
Authorities from Islamic Emirates of Afghanistan told ‘ Islamabad Telegraph’ that the embassy compound was targeted by gunfire from a nearby building. Police had arrested one suspect and recovered two firearms, a spokesperson of Kabul police department told his publication.
Pakistan’s Foreign Office said the attack had been aimed at the head of mission, Ubaid-ur-Rehman Nizamani. It said Nizamani was safe, but a Pakistani security guard, Sepoy Israr Mohammad, was critically wounded in the attack while protecting the ambassador.
It is worth pointing out that Nizamani arrived in Kabul last month to take up the role at one of the few embassies that has remained operational throughout the period since the hardline Islamist Taliban seized power in August 2021 after foreign forces withdrew.
A spokesperson for Pakistan’s foreign office, however, said they had no plans to evacuate the embassy after the incident.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, in a Twitter post, called the attack an “assassination attempt” while seeking an investigation and action against the perpetrators.
Pakistan’s foreign office also said the Afghan charge d’affaires in Islambad had been called in over the “extremely serious lapse in security” and that he told them security had been “beefed up” at Pakistan’s mission.
A spokesperson for the Taliban foreign ministry condemned the attack.
“(The) Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan strongly condemns the attempted shooting and failed attack on the Pakistani embassy in Kabul,” spokesperson Abdul Qahar Balkhi said on Twitter, adding that Taliban security agencies would investigate.
The attack occurred at a time of heightened security concerns in areas bordering Afghanistan after the Pakistani Taliban (TTP) said on Monday it would no longer abide by a months-long ceasefire with the Pakistani government.
The Afghan Taliban have been facilitating peace talks between local militants and Pakistan authorities since late last year.
