WASHINGTON: A veteran US diplomat and Pakistan expert, Robin L. Raphel, is facing federal investigation and her security clearance has been revoked, the State Department said on Friday.

Diplomatic sources in Washington, however, said that the investigation “does not involve Pakistan.”

And at a State Department news briefing, spokeswoman Jen Psaki said that the probe would not affect US policies and its work in South Asia.

“We are aware of this law-enforcement matter,” she said. “We are cooperating with our law-enforcement

colleagues on this matter. We can confirm that Ms Raphel’s appointment expired and she is no longer a State Department employee.”

Asked if the investigation could compromise ongoing US policies and diplomatic activities in South Asia, Ms Psaki said that the United States had “a range of high-level officials in this and other regions” and this investigation would not affect their work.

“I am not going to get into any more details from the podium,” said the official when asked for more details.

Other officials said earlier Friday that Ms Raphel’s employment technically ended on Nov. 2, but her clearance had been pulled in October, effectively ending her employment.

The US Federal Bureau of Investiga­tion, which is investigating the matter, searched Ms Raphel’s Washington home on Oct 21. They also searched and sealed her office at the State Department.

Ms Raphel is at home but is not responding to email messages or telephone calls.

Reports in the US media underlined Ms Raphel’s long engagement with Pakistan while reporting the matter. But diplomatic sources in Washington said that so far they had “seen no move to suggest that the investigation also involves Pakistan”.

Two senior US officials told The Washington Post, which first reported the probe, that the investigation was “a counterintelligence matter, which typically involves allegations of spying on behalf of foreign governments”.

The exact nature of the investigation was not disclosed.

Ms Raphel, 67, was serving as coordinator for non-military assistance to Pakistan before the FBI raid.

In 1993, President Bill Clinton appointed Ms Raphel the first US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, a position created to assist the US government in managing the region, which had two nuclear-weapon states.

Ms Raphel later served as US Ambassador to Tunisia and in the 2000s was appointed to or held a number of official positions related to her expertise on South Asia. She retired from the State Department in 2005 after 30 years of service.

After her retirement from the foreign service, Ms Raphel joined Cassidy and Associates, which lobbied on behalf of the Pakistani government.

In 2009, the US Embassy in Islamabad hired Ms Raphel as a contractor to oversee development aid and civilian assistance to Pakistan and then moved to late US diplomat Richard Holbrooke’s Af-Pak team as a Pakistan expert.

Ms Raphel began her career in the US government as an analyst at the CIA and then moved to the diplomatic corps and assisted USAID in Islamabad as an economic analyst.

In 1978, Ms Raphel returned to the United States and joined the State Department.

She also was a strong advocate for engaging the Taliban, which earned her both praise and scorn in Washington.

Ms Raphel is widely respected in Pakistan for helping improve US relations with the country during difficult periods.

Her emphasis on maintaining good ties with Pakistan and on resolving the Kashmir dispute made her unpopular in India, although she was stationed in New Delhi in her early career.

She was once married to Arnold Lewis Raphel, the 18th US ambassador to Pakistan who died along with General Ziaul Haq, in the Bahawalpur air crash in August 1988.

Published in Dawn, November 8th , 2014