US, Pakistan move on from Abbottabad incident?
Grossman meets senior civilian and military leaders to discuss Afghan endgame.
ISLAMABAD:
After days of tensions over the killing of Osama bin Laden, Pakistan and the United States appear to have moved on, shifting their focus from the controversy to the more pressing issue of managing the endgame for the decade-long war in neighbouring Afghanistan.
Sources familiar with the talks between the US envoy for the region and the country’s top political and military leadership indicated that the relationship between Washington and Islamabad appears to be back on track.
Marc Grossman held in-depth discussions with President Asif Zardari, Army Chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and separately with the Inter-Services Intelligence Director-General Lt Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha to discuss the Afghan endgame and the way forward. The US envoy was accompanied by CIA Deputy Director Michael Morel.
Official sources say the talks discussed the post-Bin Laden situation with a focus on finding a political solution to the Afghan problem by engaging the Taliban.
US and Western troops begin a phased withdrawal from Afghanistan in July, a process that is expected to continue till 2014. The US government is keen to have in place a stable Afghan government before its troops depart from Afghanistan permanently.
Both sides agreed that the death of the al Qaeda leader would augur well for the peace-making with the Afghan Taliban, the sources add.
A brief statement issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) confirmed that Gen Kayani and Grossman discussed the reconciliation process in Afghanistan.
“During the meeting, the visiting dignitary discussed future of Pak-US engagement concerning the reconciliation process in Afghanistan,” the statement said.
It is believed that, unlike his predecessor Richard Holbrooke, Grossman’s mandate is limited to the reconciliation process in Afghanistan.
Earlier this month, he took part in a trilateral meeting held in Islamabad to accelerate the efforts of finding a negotiated settlement out of the Afghan war. Senior Pakistani and Afghani officials also attended the conference.
Grossman also met President Zardari to continue the US government’s engagement with Pakistan, a process that was greatly helped by US Senator John Kerry’s visit to Islamabad earlier this week.
“The meeting between President Zardari and Grossman was a follow up of US Senator John Kerry’s meeting with the President on May 16,” Presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar said. “At that meeting, he said the two sides had agreed to put “relations back on track”.
They also decided that the “relations should go forward on the basis of mutual respect, mutual trust and mutual interest”.
The two sides also discussed the agenda of the forthcoming visit of US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton to Pakistan.
The visit by Grossman and the CIA deputy chief came at a time when a new survey carried out by the Washington-based “Pew Research Center” showed US popularity in Pakistan has fallen to an all-time low, with just 11% of Pakistanis holding a favourable view of the country and President Barack Obama.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 20th, 2011.
After days of tensions over the killing of Osama bin Laden, Pakistan and the United States appear to have moved on, shifting their focus from the controversy to the more pressing issue of managing the endgame for the decade-long war in neighbouring Afghanistan.
Sources familiar with the talks between the US envoy for the region and the country’s top political and military leadership indicated that the relationship between Washington and Islamabad appears to be back on track.
Marc Grossman held in-depth discussions with President Asif Zardari, Army Chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and separately with the Inter-Services Intelligence Director-General Lt Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha to discuss the Afghan endgame and the way forward. The US envoy was accompanied by CIA Deputy Director Michael Morel.
Official sources say the talks discussed the post-Bin Laden situation with a focus on finding a political solution to the Afghan problem by engaging the Taliban.
US and Western troops begin a phased withdrawal from Afghanistan in July, a process that is expected to continue till 2014. The US government is keen to have in place a stable Afghan government before its troops depart from Afghanistan permanently.
Both sides agreed that the death of the al Qaeda leader would augur well for the peace-making with the Afghan Taliban, the sources add.
A brief statement issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) confirmed that Gen Kayani and Grossman discussed the reconciliation process in Afghanistan.
“During the meeting, the visiting dignitary discussed future of Pak-US engagement concerning the reconciliation process in Afghanistan,” the statement said.
It is believed that, unlike his predecessor Richard Holbrooke, Grossman’s mandate is limited to the reconciliation process in Afghanistan.
Earlier this month, he took part in a trilateral meeting held in Islamabad to accelerate the efforts of finding a negotiated settlement out of the Afghan war. Senior Pakistani and Afghani officials also attended the conference.
Grossman also met President Zardari to continue the US government’s engagement with Pakistan, a process that was greatly helped by US Senator John Kerry’s visit to Islamabad earlier this week.
“The meeting between President Zardari and Grossman was a follow up of US Senator John Kerry’s meeting with the President on May 16,” Presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar said. “At that meeting, he said the two sides had agreed to put “relations back on track”.
They also decided that the “relations should go forward on the basis of mutual respect, mutual trust and mutual interest”.
The two sides also discussed the agenda of the forthcoming visit of US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton to Pakistan.
The visit by Grossman and the CIA deputy chief came at a time when a new survey carried out by the Washington-based “Pew Research Center” showed US popularity in Pakistan has fallen to an all-time low, with just 11% of Pakistanis holding a favourable view of the country and President Barack Obama.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 20th, 2011.