India, Sept. 2 -- Senior diplomat Deepak Mittal, an old hand on Pakistan and Afghanistan who is currently an officer on special duty in the Prime Minister's Office, was on Tuesday named as India's next ambassador to the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Mittal, who belongs to the 1998 batch of the Indian Foreign Service (IFS), has done two stints in the PMO under Prime Minister Narendra Modi and previously served as ambassador to Qatar during 2020-2022. He earlier served as director in the PMO during 2014-2017.

A statement from the external affairs ministry said Mittal is expected to take up his new assignment shortly.

Mittal headed the crucial Pakistan-Afghanistan-Iran desk during 2018-2020 and was part of the team that worked on the openin...