Islamabad, Sept. 29 (Reuters): Afghanistan’s top diplomat in Pakistan, ambassador-designate Abdul Khaliq Farahi, was “recovered” today, a week after gunmen kidnapped him and killed his driver, Pakistani officials said.

“He has been recovered,” said an intelligence agency official who declined to be identified. A government official said Farahi, who was kidnapped in Peshawar, had been taken to Islamabad.

The gunmen stopped Farahi’s car near his residence in the Hayatabad area of Peshawar and opened fire. The driver was killed and three men bundled Farahi into a car and drove away from the spot.

Farahi was posted in Peshawar as consul-general in 2002. He was recently named Afghanistan’s ambassador to Pakistan and was expected to take up his new assignment after the end of Ramazan.

In February, Pakistan’s ambassador to Afghanistan Tariq Azizuddin was kidnapped in the Khyber Agency. He was later freed in May.