After 22 months in Af-Pak hot seat, Grossman to 'return to private life'

Marc Grossman had taken over the role of Special Ambassador to Afghan-Pakistan region after Richard Holbrooke's...


Huma Imtiaz November 28, 2012

WASHINGTON: US special ambassador to Afghanistan and Pakistan Marc Grossman is due to step down from his post next month, a State Department spokesperson confirmed on Tuesday. 

In the immediate aftermath of Grossman's mid-December departure, his principal deputy David Pearce will take over.

Grossman had taken over the office of special representative after the death of Richard Holbrooke in late 2010. At the time, Grossman was living a retired life and had been asked by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to come back and take charge of the vacant hot seat. He had reportedly agreed to do so for a period of two years.

"After almost two years in the position, and with Secretary Clinton's agreement, he will return to private life. The secretary thanks Ambassador Grossman for his efforts to help create the 'diplomatic surge' that Secretary Clinton laid out in her 2011 speech at the Asia Society," State department spokesperson Laura Lucas said on Tuesday.

The spokesperson added that Ambassador Grossman's work has helped set the conditions for a peace process in Afghanistan, that would enable Afghans to talk to each other in efforts to reach a negotiated settlement.

"This has been a major line of effort in support of the President’s objectives to disrupt and defeat al Qaeda and ensure that Afghanistan can no longer become a safe haven for terrorists. Under Ambassador Grossman’s leadership, the United States also has worked to build a relationship with Pakistan based on identifying our shared interests and acting on them jointly. This work will continue."

During his time as special envoy to the region, Grossman oversaw a particularly difficult period in Pakistan's relations with both the US and with Afghanistan.

The special envoy had spearheaded US' efforts to secure international funding and a long term commitment to Afghanistan in the Bonn and Tokyo conferences.

He also oversaw the security partnership agreement between US and Afghanistan which determined the role of US troops in Afghanistan through 2024.

Grossman was also part of the back channel negotiations with the Taliban. Those talks though came unstuck over, among other issues, the transfer of five Taliban commanders from Guantanamo Bay to relatively relaxed confinement in Qatar.

COMMENTS (8)

Sultan Ahmed | 11 years ago | Reply

Grossman was also part of the back channel negotiations with the Taliban. Those talks though came unstuck over, among other issues, the transfer of five Taliban commanders from Guantanamo Bay to relatively relaxed confinement in Qatar

If we admitt that he worked hard and remarkable for peace in the region then a question arise out in our mind he was not succeed in his mission but recalled.

Transfer of Taliban commander from Guantanamo Bay prison to Qatar is not good will gesture,they should released from Cuba to Afghanistan as Pakistan has done last week.

No doubt, he opened back channel negotiations with Taliban but declined to consider their conditions that were justified to some extend,in this way the whole efforts he made would have to face total failure.

Dr. Asad Sadick, Germany | 11 years ago | Reply Obamas re-election, Hillary and Grossman leavng their jobs and Obama trying hard to climb the fiscal cliff and put some sense into Netanyahu means just one thing. There is going to be an unpopular accord between the Jews and Palestenians, and Hillary does not want to be part of that deal. She wants to run for the Presidency in 2016. Mark my words, and she will make it with stalwarts like Obama and Bill Clinton on her side.
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