Afghan security forces on Wednesday claimed to have safely recovered the two missing Pakistani diplomatic officials of the Consulate General of Pakistan in Jalalabad. There was no immediate official word on the abductors and their fate.
It was also unclear whether tribal elders had played a role in the recovery of the duo or had they been rescued after a military operation.
Both the diplomatic officials had been abducted while travelling from Jalalabad to Torkham on June 16, 2017. President Ashraf Ghani personally phoned Pakistan’s Charge d’ Affaires in Kabul to inform that the Afghan security forces had recovered the two Pakistani officials in a security operation.
Later in the evening, the two officials were handed over to the embassy of Pakistan in Kabul by the Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The duo would be flown back to Pakistan to join their families as soon as possible.
Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua talked to Afghan Deputy Foreign Minister Hekmat Karzai and conveyed Pakistan’s deep gratitude to the Afghan government for safe recovery of the two abducted Pakistani diplomatic officials.
Both the diplomatic officials were based in a consulate office in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad. There were fears that militants might have picked up both of them on their way from Jalalabad to Torkham.
Jalalabad—the provincial capital of Nangarhar province—and its outskirts are a hotbed of terrorism, as the area is under the control of Afghan Taliban and Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). In recent years, the terrorist Islamic State has also established a presence Nangarhar.
Soon after the abduction, Pakistan’s foreign office had approached the Afghan government, requesting that all out efforts be made to ensure early recovery of the officials and bringing the perpetrators of this heinous crime to justice.
Islamabad said Afghanistan had formed three different investigating groups to probe the incident.
Relations between Islamabad and Kabul have been tense in recent years, with both countries accusing each other of not doing enough to tackle Pakistani and Afghan Taliban militants.
Afghanistan has accused Pakistan of turning a blind eye towards Afghan Taliban commanders based within its borders and of supporting the militant group, something Islamabad denies.
Islamabad has claimed that Kabul is not doing enough to tackle Pakistani Taliban militants who have been driven out of Pakistan, but still carry out attacks across the border.