New Delhi: Senior diplomat Vinay Kumar has been appointed as India's ambassador to strategically key Afghanistan, succeeding incumbent Manpreet Vohra.

Kumar, a 1992 batch Indian Foreign Service officer, is currently serving as Joint Secretary (South) in the headquarters of the external affairs ministry here.

"He is expected to take up his assignment shortly," the ministry said in a release.

Vohra has been serving as ambassador of India to Afghanistan since January 2016.

Kumar, a graduate from IIT Kharagpur, has served in various positions.

He had also worked in India's permanent mission to the United Nations in New York.

India and Afghanistan are strategic partners and relations between the two countries have been on an upswing in the last few years.

India has invested over USD two billion in aid and in development projects in the war-ravaged country.

In September last year, India made a fresh announcement of taking up 116 "high impact community developmental projects" in 31 provinces of Afghanistan.