By NNN-APP,
Washington : Pakistan’s new ambassador-designate to the United States Husain Haqqani arrived here Tuesday evening to take up his assignment.
Deputy Chef-de-Mission Muhammad Aslam Khan and senior diplomats received Ambassador Haqqani upon his arrival in the U.S. capital.
Since his appointment as Pakistan’s top envoy to the U.S., Haqqani has been described in the American media as an influential figure in Washington’s diplomatic and political circles, having cultivated a wide range of contacts on the Capitol Hill and in American think tanks.
He was appointed as Ambassador-at-Large soon after inception of the new democratic government in Islamabad last month. Until then, he was serving as Director of Center for International Relations and Professor at Boston University.
This is Haqqani’s second ambassadorial assignment as he served as Pakistan’s High Commissioner to Sri Lanka in the early 1990s. He brings with him extensive experience as a journalist, writer, diplomat and adviser to top Pakistani leaders including martyred former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.
Haqqani replaces Mahmud Ali Durrani, who has assumed his new position as national security adviser to Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani.