Ex-AJK president tipped to become envoy to US

Masood Khan to replace Asad Majeed, who is to take up foreign secretary’s post

ISLAMABAD:

The government has decided to appoint Masood Khan, former diplomat and Azad Jammu and Kashmir president, as new ambassador to the United States, official sources have confirmed.

Masood will replace Asad Majeed, Pakistan’s current envoy to Washington, who is likely to be appointed as foreign secretary.

When asked the Foreign Office spokesperson said there was no confirmation of the development yet. However, official sources said the summary has already been moved for the appointment of ambassador to the US.

The government opted to appoint a retired diplomat instead of sending someone who is already in the Foreign Service for the coveted but challenging diplomatic assignment.

Masood after his retirement became the AJK president and has been advancing Pakistan’s case for the longstanding Kashmir dispute with India.
Masood has vast experience in multilateral diplomacy and has been a frequent negotiator for Pakistan.

He has served in various diplomatic positions at the Pakistan missions in Beijing, The Hague, and Washington DC.

Masood during his service served as the ambassador to China as well as a permanent representative to the United Nations. He also remained a spokesperson for the ministry of foreign affairs.

He is being tasked with the new assignment at a time when relations between Pakistan and the US are facing an uncertain future. Since the US exit from Afghanistan, there is no clarity about the kind of relationship the US wants to maintain with Pakistan.

Although Pakistan has been seeking broad-based ties with the US covering all aspects, the US has so far given little indication if it is ready to enhance the scope of ties beyond security and Afghanistan.
It is perhaps because of this reason that President Joe Biden has not yet spoken to Prime minister Imran Khan despite being in office for nine months.

There has been some movement on the ties in recent months after the Biden administration named a full-time ambassador to Pakistan. The US has not had a full-time ambassador since August 2018.
Officials say that the US is keen to maintain ties with Pakistan but with a narrow focus on counterterrorism and security.

For this purpose, the US is negotiating a formal agreement with Pakistan seeking airspace for counterterrorism operations in Afghanistan.

Pakistan said it has longstanding security and counterterrorism cooperation with the US but denied reports that the country had any formal agreement with the US on the use of its airspace for counterterrorism operations in Afghanistan.

Against this backdrop, the new US envoy will have his hand full in dealing with the Biden administration.

Pakistan despite differences on certain issues is keen to maintain ties with the US since it understands the importance of Washington in terms of many bilateral, regional and international issues.

The Pentagon and the GHQ relations are of particular significance for both countries despite many hiccups.

US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, who recently undertook a visit to Pakistan, had said: “We have a long history of security cooperation and deep personal relationships between our military leaders. Both of which are central components of our counterterrorism efforts.”