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News Topical, Digital Desk : The US State Department has announced that the US Consulate in Peshawar, Pakistan, will be permanently closed. The consulate is the closest US diplomatic mission to the Afghan border and served as a major operational and logistics hub before, during, and after the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan.
The State Department notified Congress this week of its intention to close the consulate. This would save US$7.5 million annually while not adversely impacting the ability to advance US national interests in Pakistan. The move had been under consideration for more than a year since the Trump administration began cutting nearly all federal agencies.
Connection to Iran war?
The US State Department has said it has no connection to the Iran war, which has sparked protests in various Pakistani cities, including Karachi and Peshawar, where US consulates temporarily suspended operations.
The administration's cuts to the US State Department last year included the dismissal of several thousand diplomatic personnel and the near-total retrenchment of the staff of the US Agency for International Development, which it completely disbanded.
However, the Peshawar-based consulate is the first foreign diplomatic mission to be completely closed due to the restructuring of the Foreign Office.
Read More: America will permanently close its consulate in Peshawar, the Ministry of External Affairs informed.
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