A good choice

Mr Jilani is a career diplomat who has held a number of important positions before becoming foreign secretary in 2012.

The post of ambassador to the US is to be filled by the current foreign secretary, Jalil Abbas Jilani, and early indications are that this is a welcome move. There has been nobody in the post in Washington since Sherry Rehman, a political appointee of the PPP government, resigned after the PPP was trounced in the general election. Ms Rehman had a background in the media, whereas Mr Jilani is a career diplomat, who has held a number of important positions before being appointed as foreign secretary in 2012. He has spent over 30 years in the foreign service and has been ambassador to Belgium and the EU, and deputy high commissioner to New Delhi. That posting did not end well for him as he was declared persona non grata by the Indians, who accused him of channelling funds to separatist groups in Jammu and Kashmir — but that aside, a solid and impressive career.



The geopolitical tectonic plates are undergoing something of a shift and our relationship with the US is being reworked. The American withdrawal from Afghanistan and the pivot towards the Pacific, the growing economic and military power of China and the burgeoning American relationship with India, all require that Pakistan has a finger on the Washington pulse. Our US ambassador also has to have the ear, and the confidence, of members of Congress and the Senate in order to lobby effectively on our behalf, as well as provide them with a conduit to the upper echelons of government in Islamabad. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is due to visit Washington later this month where he will be meeting President Barack Obama, and it would be appropriate for Mr Jilani to have presented his credentials and laid some of the groundwork before the prime minister gets there — thus his early arrival in the American capital is desirable. There are difficult issues on the table, not least the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline, a project adamantly opposed by the Americans, and our own expanding relationship with China. It would have been better if the prime minister had made his mind up a little earlier on this crucial posting, but the appointment of Mr Jilani is entirely appropriate.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 11^th, 2013.

Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.