US okays Masood Khan’s appointment as Pakistani envoy — foreign office

ISLAMABAD: The United States (US) has greenlighted the appointment of Masood Khan as Pakistan’s ambassador in Washington, a spokesperson for the Pakistani foreign office said on Saturday. 
The appointment has seen an unusual delay since Islamabad sent the nomination of Khan, who served as the Azad Kashmir president until August 2021, to Washington in November last year. 
His nomination was supposed to be approved in up to eight-week time, but the US State Department had reportedly sought some more time for clearance. 
“The US government has conveyed its agrément to the appointment of Sardar Masood Khan as the Ambassador of Pakistan to the United States,” Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, the spokesperson for the Pakistani foreign office, said in a statement. 
“Ambassador Khan is a seasoned diplomat who has served Pakistan with distinction and honor. He would assume his responsibilities in Washington DC in due course of time.” 
Khan has previously served as Pakistan’s permanent representative to the United Nations (UN) and its ambassador to China. He is to replace the outgoing Pakistani envoy in Washington Asad Majeed Khan. 
The delay in Khan’s appointment came amid increasingly colder Washington-Islamabad ties over geo-political reasons, particularly the situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan’s close ties with Beijing. 
The relations have suffered a greater setback after the arrival of President Joe Biden who refused to speak to Pakistan’s prime minister, even as his administration continued to seek Islamabad’s support in Afghanistan. 
Washington does not have the same amount of interest in Pakistan after the pullout of foreign forces from Afghanistan in August 2021. It is also critical of Islamabad’s close ties with China, although Pakistan has said that it does not want to become a part of any bloc.