ISLAMABAD, Feb 12: The government on Tuesday appointed Rustam Shah Mohmand ambassador to Afghanistan, an official announcement said.

Mr Mohmand, who is a senior civil servant, has held important portfolios, including the post of interior secretary and the NWFP chief secretary, in his 30-year-long career.

He would soon be proceeding to Kabul to take over the Pakistani Mission, which was handed over to Pakistan on Jan 14.

The Pakistani Mission in Kabul is in a very bad shape and its renovation will certainly take sometime, an official at the Foreign Office told Dawn on Tuesday.

The embassy building, since its closure in the second week of September last year after the terrorist attacks on the United States, had been taken over by an armed group, which looted and ransacked the building.

He said Pakistani Charge D Affairs Zaid Khan with four staff members was already present in Kabul.