As a goodwill gesture, Pakistan on Friday handed over an Afghan child who had gone missing in Islamabad in 2015 to officials at the Afghan Embassy in the capital.

Ubaidullah, whose family had travelled from Afghanistan to Islamabad where his father underwent medical treatment, went missing in 2015, the Foreign Office (FO) said in a press release.

"The mother of the child could not find any clue about his whereabouts" after he went missing, but had to leave for Afghanistan due to the sudden demise of his father, the FO said.

Ubaidallah was later found by Islamabad Police on November 7, 2015, and was handed over to the Child Protection and Welfare Bureau (CPWB).

While the CPWB "provided him a homelike environment along with education, healthcare and psychological counselling", Pakistani authorities continued efforts to trace his family in Afghanistan, the FO said.

Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua today handed him over to Afghan officials.

Ubaidullah is set to travel to Afghanistan later today in order to reunite with his family.

The FO said that the government of Afghanistan had appreciated Pakistan's efforts to protect the child and hand him over to his family.