NEW DELHI - The Modi government has decided to appoint Rudrendra Tandon as the new envoy to Afghanistan and Vikram Doraiswami as high commissioner to Dhaka.
Tandon, a 1994 batch Indian Foreign Service officer is considered an Afghanistan specialist with stints in Kabul, Jalalabad and has headed Pakistan-Afghanistan-Iran desk in the external affairs ministry. He is currently the Indian envoy to ASEAN at Jakarta. Tandon replaces Vinay Kumar who has performed admirably with the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan after striking a deal with Taliban insurgents.
Vikram Doraiswami, who is the Additional Secretary incharge of International Organisations and Summits at the foreign ministry, heads to bangladesh capital Dhaka, one of the closest allies of New Delhi. Doraiswami is a 1992 batch officer.
Doraiswami replaces Reena Das who is likely to take over as Secretary East at the external affairs ministry when the incumbent Vijai Thakur Singh retires in September. (Hindustan Times)