ISLAMABAD, Dec 19: Pakistan will attend the investiture ceremony of the Afghan interim government being held in Kabul on Saturday, Foreign Minister Abdus Sattar told Dawn.

The foreign office is busy finalizing the composition of the delegation to be sent to Kabul on Dec 22 for attending installation of the interim government, headed by Hamid Karzai, following hectic negotiations among Afghan groups, under the umbrella of the United Nations, in Bonn on Dec 6.

“The questions as to what should be the level of the delegation and what should be its strength are still being discussed,” Mr Sattar said.

On a question as to when Pakistan will re-open its mission in Kabul, which was closed down in September, he said: “We are desirous of opening the mission as soon as possible.”

However, he said, it had been learnt that the two buildings in which Pakistani mission was housed had been taken over by some people.

One of these buildings was the property of Pakistan government while the other was a rented one.

He said Islamabad had no presence in Kabul, therefore, it could not verify the report.

Pakistan was the last country which closed down its mission in Kabul in September last. Islamabad had drastically reduced its diplomatic staff in Kabul soon after Sept-11 attacks on the United States.

The skeleton staff, which was maintained in Kabul primarily as a window for deposed Taliban government to the outside world, was withdrawn and the mission was closed down in the third week of September with the deterioration of security situation.

The United States opened its mission in Kabul on Monday. The mission had been closed down in 1979 after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. India, Iran, Britain, Russia, France and Turkey have already reopened their missions in Kabul.

Islamabad has made no formal contact with the interim government of Mr Karzai. A telephonic conversation did take place between interim Prime Minister Hamid Karzai and President General Pervez Musharraf but that too on the initiative of Mr Karzai.