Grossman may broach safe passage for Afghan Taliban
Grossman will be the first high-ranking civilian American official to visit Pakistan since the reopening of vital land routes for foreign forces stationed in Afghanistan, in early July.
President Barack Obama’s point-man for the region will meet Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar and the senior civil and military leadership to discuss the Pak-US cooperation, a Foreign Office official said on condition of anonymity.
He added that the discussions were expected to focus on reviving the strategic dialogue and the Afghan reconciliation process.
Grossman, the official said, has now been primarily focusing on efforts to bring the Taliban on the negotiating table.
The top American diplomat is likely to discuss the outcome of the recently-held meeting of a Pakistan, US, Afghan working group that is discussing modalities to provide safe passage to Afghan Taliban, who are willing to enter the peace process.
Pakistan, which is considered crucial for any peace deal, is believed to have offered to facilitate the safe passage but insisted that the intra-Afghan dialogue is a prerequisite for the success of any initiative.
The Foreign Office official said Grossman would also bring up a recent decision by the US to declare the Haqqani network a terrorist organisation.
Islamabad is thought to have offered no opposition to the move as it argues that the Haqqani network is an Afghan group. The US envoy’s trip comes just days before a crucial meeting between Foreign Minister Khar and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton next week in Washington.
His trip also coincides with planned protest rallies by the country’s religious parties against the airing of an anti-Islam video clip in the US.
The Pakistan government has condemned the video clip saying it provoked “hatred, discord and enmity within societies and between peoples of various faiths.”
Published in The Express Tribune, September 14th, 2012.
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Americans you better find safe passages for leaving Afghanistan for yourselves and US' and NATO's troops as soon as possible on top priority basis instead of for Taliban because you are strangers in South East Asia most especially importantly in Afghanistan and Taliban are citizens/natives of Afghanistan and Pakistan by birth.So I strongly recommend/suggest for you to find the safe passages of the withdrawal of the US' and NATO's forces because guests/strangers can never be declared and announced the citizens/natives/residents of any countries without fulfilling the legal documents and formalities of any countries.......
The Americans are so kind aren't they? They have invaded a foreign country (Afghanistan) which was not doing the Americans any harm, and now they have patronizingly decided that the ex-Taliban Government (the Government in exile) should be included in peace negotiations. They US are only doing this because they have found, as in wars such as Vietnam, that they do not know how to win a war. They win every battle and loose the war. The bottom line is that the Taliban do not fight conventional wars; they beat the British, the Russians and they are beating the US.. They use "Hit and Run Tactics". Their technique is called "Asymmetric Warfare", and US/NATO cannot handle it. After eleven years of warfare and an underestimated cost of 4 trillion dollars the Americans want to get out. Apart from being thrashed, loosing an undisclosed number of killed and wounded. the American economy is heading South. At the present time the only group of people doing well in the US are Defense Contractors. Just ask President Obama. His main contributors are the Industrial Military Complex, and the Pharmaceutical Cartel.
Very sad that you consider the indiscriminate killing of innocent people as collateral damage, justified. Of course the criminals should be dealt with mortally but not innocent people. And strangely you despise your beloved soldiers also. I agree with Raja Poras and Silent and also naeem siddiqui that the Americans need a safe passage for themselves. The afghans have sacrificed for the whole Muslim Ummah to stop the crusaders in the mountains of Afghanistan, otherwise they would be conquering (destroying) all Muslim countries one by one. The crusaders are a bigger menace then the US sponsored Taliban of Pakistan. These criminals will be controlled Inshallah by your and mine beloved soldiers ( I don't despise them, they are sacrificing themselves for us day in and day out)
This is so gross, man! You should be worry about your own safe passage instead.
@ Liberal
lol...brilliant satire.
in fact Americans need safe passage...
Grossman needs to beg Taliban to give a safe passage to Americans instead!!
@Naeem Siddiqui: When an American does that, or does anything for that matter, I support them. But when Pakistan does that, or does anything for that matter, it is my duty to mock around. Just to remind you that Americans are doing the right thing by sending drones in the tribal areas as those tribes, and Arabs and whatever, are responsible for suicide attack in Pakistan along with killings of many innocent civilians and our beloved soldiers (whom I despise otherwise). They are terrorists until Americans think otherwise.
"Gross man" is moving in right direction
When an American talks about safe passage for Taliban in Afghanistan, I can't stop my loughs :)