Pakistan confirms snub to US envoy
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Xinhua, January 19, 2012
Pakistan Wednesday confirmed that it had asked the United Stated not to send its special envoy Marc Grossman to Islamabad, who is currently visiting the region for consultations about the "talks with the Afghan Taliban."
U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner told a briefing in Washington on Tuesday that the U.S. had made a request for a visit of Grossman as part of his itinerary to hold consultations with the U.S. allies in the Middle East on a new move to involve the Taliban in Afghan reconciliation process.
"We received word that the Pakistani government felt that it would be best to wait (for Grossman's visit) until this parliamentary review is concluded," Mark Toner told a news briefing.
A Pakistani Foreign Ministry official confirmed that Islamabad had called for the visit cancellation.
The official, who requested not to be identified, did not offer more comments.
Pakistan's snub shows that there has been no improvement in relationship since the November 26 U.S.-led NATO raid on two Pakistani military posts that killed 24 soldiers.
Pakistani Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani had called for a review of relationship with the U.S. after the strike and had asked the parliamentary committee on national security to make recommendations.
Sources told Xinhua that Pakistan is also annoyed at the U.S. move to "keep in dark" about its talks with the Afghan Taliban and the opening of a Taliban political office in Qatar.
An Afghan diplomat in Islamabad, requesting not to be named, said that Pakistan and Afghanistan both had not been taken into confidence on the U.S. talks with the Taliban and the issue of Taliban office in the small Gulf country.
Last month, the U.S. State Department had confirmed that Pakistan had asked Washington to reschedule a visit of the Central Command head Gen James Mattis to the country on the plea that " Pakistani leaders were busy with an internal political dispute."
The visit has not yet taken place as Pakistan had rejected a Centcom inquiry report of the NATO raid.
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