Obama Administration is dispatching a senior diplomat to Pakistan on Friday to share with Pakistan side US apprehensions about the Haqqani Network as well as persuade Afghanistan to continue trilateral talks with the US and Pakistan on counter terrorism measures and economic development.
Marc Grossman, US special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan will leave US Friday for Kabul and Islamabad meetings. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Grossman would also visit neighbouring countries. She said Grossman would advise Pakistan on how to tackle the Haqqani Network.
The Haqqani Network has been accused of attacking the US embassy in Kabul. US Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen has dubbed the group as an arm of ISI. Nuland also acknowledged Afghan concerns about US-Pakistan-Afghan talks. She said that Grossman would speak to both sides on value of continuing discussions. Meanwhile, in a statement issued through Afghan Presidential Press Service, President Hamid Karzai dismissed calls for negotiations with Taliban, saying neighbouring Pakistan is the key to peace talks with the insurgents.
"The people of Afghanistan say "president, you have called for peace but peace with whom?" According to the statement, "I don't have another answer for them, except to say that it is Pakistan we have to approach. We cannot find Mullah Omar. Where is he? We don't know where the Taliban Shura is," he said in a statement. The comments came after Afghan intelligence service alleged that the assassination of former Afghan president Burhanuddin Rabbani was planned by the Taliban Shoora in Quetta. In a recent interview to a private TV channel, Marc Grossman said it was not about ending the relationship with Pakistan, but about continued engagement.
He said that Pakistan too recognised that the Haqqani Network was a threat. The question was not whether we would work together but how we would work together to try and deal with these issues. Dubbing the US-Pakistan relations important for both the countries, Grossman said the US wanted this relationship to work, "but it was very important that both the governments and the people recognised that terrorism, and that included the Haqqani Network, was a threat to both of us."
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