Located in Kabul's Kārte Parwān neighbourhood, it is Pakistan's largest embassy abroad in terms of size and also one of its busiest.[2] The residence of the Pakistani ambassador enjoins the embassy, together collectively known as the Quaid-e-Azam Complex.[2]
There are presently 60 personnel working at the mission. The operating budget of Pakistani diplomatic missions in Afghanistan was estimated at Rs. 527 million as of 2016.[4]
The embassy provides visa services for Afghans, as well as overseeing bilateral affairs and matters pertaining to Pakistani interests in Afghanistan. English language courses and computer classes are also provided for free to Afghan students in one section of the embassy.[2]
History
The site of the current embassy, whose grounds sprawl over 26 acres, was inaugurated in 2012. The embassy is hosted inside white, palatial colonial-era buildings that previously belonged to the British Legation in Kabul. The British Legation was constructed in 1927, shortly after the 1919 Treaty of Rawalpindi which accorded recognition of Afghanistan's independence.[2]
After 1947, Pakistan's right to ownership of the buildings by virtue of being a successor state to the British Raj was recognised in the 1960s but possession was not formally acceded by the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office until four and a half decades later, by which time most of the complex was in a state of disrepair; only a clock tower on the boundary walls stood undamaged.[2]
After taking control of the property, the Pakistani government renovated and reconstructed the premises within six months, for the purpose of its diplomatic mission.[2] The present-day residential complex of the ambassador, whose construction was ordered by British foreign secretary Lord George Curzon, once housed the British envoy to Afghanistan.[2]
Pakistan's diplomatic mission in Kabul has been attacked multiple times. On 30 March 1955, a group of pro-Pashtunistan agitators attacked the embassy and ambassador's residence, also tearing down the Pakistani flag, to protest against the merger of the Pashtun-dominated North-West Frontier Province into West Pakistan province as part of the One Unit policy.[5] The protestors were encouraged by Afghan prime minister Mohammed Daoud Khan and were bussed to the site, and the Afghan police did not intervene.[5] The following day, Pakistan's consulates in Kandahar and Jalalabad were assaulted, and Pakistanis reacted by attacking the Afghan consulate in Peshawar.[5] In 1995, nearly 5,000 protesters sacked the current embassy[6] and in 2003 it was ransacked by a group of 500 protestors.[7]
On 2 December 2022, the embassy came under attack with Chargé d’Affaires to Afghanistan Ubaidur Rehman Nizamani being targeted. Although, Nizamani remained safe, a security guard was “critically injured” in the attack.[8]
