ISLAMABAD: The recently appointed US special representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan, Frank Ruggiero, is arriving in Islamabad next week on his maiden visit to the region. He assumes the post following the death of predecessor Richard Holbrooke last month.
According to the Foreign Office, Ruggiero, who was Holbrooke’s deputy until the death of the veteran diplomat, is expected to arrive in Pakistan on January 5.
This will be his first visit to the region since he was appointed as President Barack Obama’s special representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The new US envoy has been tasked with what many believe is the most difficult diplomatic assignment to further his country’s interest in the region; this also includes the ending of a nine-year old war, which is now even viewed by the American public as an exercise in futility.
The late Richard Holbrooke reportedly appealed for an end to the bloodshed in Afghanistan.
His sudden demise was seen as a setback to the Obama administration, which is seemingly finding it hard to take the battle in Afghanistan to its logical conclusion. Ruggiero’s visit coincides with the trip of the Afghan Peace Council formed by President Hamid Karzai to seek a political solution to the strife in his country by engaging the Taliban.
During his stay, the US envoy will hold talks with the country’s top political and military leadership on the current security situation in the region.
He will be told of Pakistan’s concerns on the review, a government official told The Express Tribune, adding that Pakistan’s worries were mainly on the lack of direction of the Afghan war.
On the other hand an American diplomat, asking not to be named, said the US envoy would push Pakistan to go after the Haqqani network, believed to be based in North Waziristan.
The Haqqani network is the deadliest militant group fighting the Nato forces in neighboring Afghanistan, therefore, it is vital that Pakistan should eliminate its ‘safe havens’ from the tribal belt, the diplomat added.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 1st, 2011.
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