Pakistan's new envoy to the US, former Foreign Secretary Jalil Abbas Jilani, is expected to play a key role in steering bilateral ties ahead of the pull-out of foreign troops from war-ravaged Afghanistan.
Jilani has left for the US and is likely to assume office after the Christmas holidays. He is the first career diplomat to head the mission in Washington after Ashraf Jehangir Qazi, who left in 2004 to represent the UN in Iraq. Two retired generals, Jehangir Karamat and Mahmud Ali Durrani, and two journalists, Husain Haqqani and Sherry Rehman, were Jilani's predecessors. "The posting of a career diplomat to Washington is very important for the morale of those in the Foreign Service," Qazi said.