US consul general departs from Pakistan amid Taliban 'threats'

Peshawar-based US consul general Elizabeth Rood today left Pakistan due to reported threats from Taliban militants in the country’s northwest, sources said.

Rood had reportedly received a threat to her life and was "feeling unsafe", sources said.

Her sudden departure took diplomatic and political circles by surprise.

A brief statement issued by the US embassy in Islamabad said Rood "has departed Pakistan" and that Constance Arvis would be the acting consul general.

The statement did not give any reasons for Rood's departure.

Mian Iftikhar Hussain, information minister of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, contended that Rood had returned to the US for "personal reasons".

"It is incorrect to speculate that the US consul general had received threats from militants," he said.

Rood was "satisfied in Peshawar and had appreciated the foolproof security extended by our government to her on several occasions", Hussain said.

Rood, who had assumed the post in August, recently made a farewell call on chief minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti and discussed matters of mutual interest, officials said.