US intensifies Afghan reconciliation process
Grossman’s coming Ankara, Riyadh visit
Hameed Shaheen
ISLAMABAD: The United
States seems intensifying efforts aimed at an “Afghan-led process of reconciliation” as Special Envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan Mr Marc
Grossman has been asked to undertake extensive crucial visits to Turkey, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kabul and Qatar from January 15 to 27,
2012.
‘Ambassador Grossman is traveling to Afghanistan and the region in support of the process of Afghan-led reconciliation, as part of
our larger strategy to support a peaceful, stable, increasingly prosperous and democratic Afghanistan’ says a State Department Washington issued
media note.
As an elaboration of the evolving US initiatives to end Afghanistan imbroglio the US State Secretary Hillary Clinton had said after
her meeting with Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabor Al Thani on January 11, ‘the United States is
prepared to support an Afghan-led process of reconciliation, and we will participate in that in support of the Afghans if we believe it holds promise
for an end to the conflict’.
Now to push forward the US political menu, the media note says, Hillary Clinton has asked Ambassador
Grossman to go to Afghanistan and Qatar ‘to continue our consultations’ with President Hamid Karzai and other Afghans and the Qatari
leadership on this effort. Marc Grossman, reports say, will also consult with other regional governments as well.
Reports last week poured in
that a Taliban liaison office is being set up in Doha to materialize the process of talks in a ‘third’ country. Afghanistan at a stage had
suggested Saudi Arabia for such a talking facility.
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