On December 23, after a gap of 15 months, Pakistan dispatched a high-level delegation led by Ambassador Muhammad Sadiq, the country's special representative on Afghanistan, to Kabul. The visit was part of renewed push to reset troubled ties with Afghanistan.

Pakistan virtually severed contacts with Afghanistan in the last 12 months to put pressure on the interim Afghan government to crack down on the banned TTP and its affiliates. It even did not bother to appoint a special envoy for Afghanistan for several weeks after Ambassador Asif Durrani stepped down in September. But the government and decision-makers revisited their strategy and convinced Ambassador Sadiq to rejoin as Pakistan's Afghan troubleshooter. Sadiq is a veteran diplomat who previously served on the same position but had to leave the office after he developed differences with the previous establishment on the policy of holding direct talks with the TTP. His return to the office of special envoy was meant to give diplomacy a chance. Within........

© The Express Tribune