U.S State Department officials have told American media organizations that the State Department's Special Representative Office for Afghanistan and Pakistan will be closed.

A well-known American diplomat, Richard Holbrooke, established the office for Afghanistan and Pakistan affairs during former president Barack Obama's administration in January 2009.

Although the State Department has not officially said anything in this regard, a number of U.S media outlets stated that the acting director and deputy director of the office both left on Friday.

According to these officials, the office will be absorbed into the State Department's Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs.

"The strategic relations and cooperation between the United States and Afghanistan will continue, either through its office for Afghanistan, through the State Departments' offices for regional affairs, or through the embassies of the two countries," said Shekib Mustaghni, a spokesman for the Afghan foreign ministry.

The role of the Special Representative Office for Afghanistan and Pakistan was curtailed at the end of Obama's presidency and the number of its employees was decreased.

"At the beginning the office was very active and powerful American diplomats worked there, but later it was changed to a less active office. Even we can say that the office failed to do its mission; for instance, the office could have played a vital role in decreasing tension between Kabul and Islamabad, but it did not," Nasrullah Stanikzai, a university lecturer said.

This move comes at the same time the U.S is drawing up its new strategy for south-Asia, which includes the possibility of sending in more troops to Afghanistan.

"We are stuck in a regional crisis and a regional solution needs to be found to resolve the crisis. America sees Afghanistan as the center of the crisis, thus resolving the crisis with a regional approach will work better," Nasir Ahmad Taraki, an international relations affairs analyst said.

LINK: https://www.ansarpress.com/english/7279

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