IRIA News

Pakistan has demanded the arrest of attackers and strongly condemned the shooting at its embassy in Afghanistan’s capital in which the country’s top diplomat remained unhurt but one of his guards was wounded.

Pakistan’s foreign ministry said that the target of an attack on its embassy compound was the head of mission, Ubaid Ur Rehman Nizamani, who was appointed last month. Shots were fired at the embassy from a nearby building by an unknown assailant or assailants.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif called the attack an “assassination attempt” against Pakistan’s head of mission in Afghanistan. “I strongly condemn the dastardly assassination attempt on Pakistan Head of Mission, Kabul,” the Pakistani prime minister said on Twitter. He called for an “immediate investigation and action against the perpetrators of this heinous act”.

Pakistan demanded that the neighboring Afghanistan government “must immediately hold thorough investigations in this attack, apprehend the culprits, hold them to account, and take urgent measures to ensure the safety and security of Pakistani diplomatic personnel and citizens in Afghanistan”.

Pakistan immediately repatriated the wounded guard Israr Mohammad by helicopter and he is being treated at a hospital in Peshawar city.

The December 2 attack on Pakistani mission comes days after Pakistan’s state minister for foreign affairs Hina Rabbani Khar led the Pakistani delegation to Kabul to hold talks with Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi on a range of issues. This was the first time the Taliban government in Afghanistan welcomed a woman-led delegation since the Taliban takeover in August 2021.

While the world does not formally recognize Afghanistan’s Taliban government, several countries including Pakistan, Qatar, China, Russia and Turkey have kept their embassies open in Kabul.

Also on Friday, a prominent Afghan politician and warlord, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, escaped unhurt in a separate attack in Kabul, his office said. Multiple attackers were killed and several guards injured in the incident, according to local media. No one immediately claimed responsibility for either of the attacks in the Afghan capital on December 2. 

Afghan Taliban denounces attack

Taliban Foreign Ministry spokesman Abdul Qahar Balkhi said that his government strongly condemns “the firing attack” at the Pakistan embassy and that it will not allow “any malicious actors” to pose a threat to the security of diplomatic missions in the Afghan capital.

Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi also called Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari to condemn the “terrorist attack” targeting the top diplomat. He assured Bhutto Zardari that “the Afghan government will bring the perpetrators of this heinous attack to justice swiftly,” the statement said. Pakistani foreign minister thanked Muttaqi and said the “Taliban government must prevent the terrorists from undermining relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan”.

The shooting comes a day after Pakistan demanded Afghan Taliban government prevent terrorist attacks from being organized from their soil by the banned militant group, Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), who are hiding in Afghanistan. The request came after a TTP suicide bomber blew himself up near a truck carrying police officers on their way to protect polio workers near Quetta, Balochistan. One police officer and three civilians were killed in the suicide attack. 

Washington and others condemn shooting

The United States has also condemned the attack on the Pakistani embassy in Afghanistan’s capital. “We offer our sympathies and wish a quick recovery to those affected by the violence,” the U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price said. He added that the United States is “deeply concerned by the attack on a foreign diplomat and we call for a full and transparent investigation”.

Turkey, Iran, Japan, and other countries have also condemned armed attack on Pakistani embassy.