ISLAMABAD: Afghan ambassador to Pakistan Omar Zakhilwal said Monday that he has requested President Ashraf Ghani to relieve him from his current diplomatic position as he has completed his two-year assignment. Zakhilwal, who is also Afghan President’s Special Envoy to Pakistan, was commenting on reports that he has resigned. “I haven’t resigned but rather have recently formally asked the President to replace me & that I would continue till then,” the Afghan ambassador tweeted, citing “rumours” about his resignation in the Afghan media, which he said requires clarification.
“Main reason for my request has been that I had agreed to a 2-years assignment which is now completed. I have not asked the President for any other official position,” he said on Twitter in his native-Pashto language. Zakhilwal, an ethnic Pashtoon hailing from eastern Nangarhar province, has previously served as Finance Minister in the cabinet of former President Hamid Karzai and advisor to President Ghani. Section of the Afghan media and comments in the social media suggest that ambassador Zakhilwal could stand for the next year’s presidential elections. He however has not offered any comments about his future plan. Zakhilwal was one of the few Afghan leaders, who had condemned the United States dropping the massive bomb in Nangarhar in April last year.
“I find the use of the largest non-nuclear bomb, the so-called ‘mother of all bombs’, on our soil reprehensible & counterproductive. If big bombs were the solution we would be the most secure place on earth today,” he had tweeted shortly after the ‘mother of all bombs’ was used to target the Islamic State hideouts.
Published in Daily Times, February 27th 2018.
