Pakistan rejects Marc Grossman’s request to visit the country
Wednesday, January 18th, 2012 6:27:45 by Asma Rafique
Pakistan rejects Marc Grossman’s request to visit the country
Pakistan on Wednesday rejected United States’ special envoy
Marc Grossman‘s request to visit the country, highlighting the increased tensions between the two countries since the November 26 Nato attacks.
This was revealed by a senior official, however he did not elaborate on the reasons.
"Ambassador Grossman asked to visit Pakistan but we conveyed to him that it was not possible at the moment," a senior government
official told Reuters on the conditions of anonymity.
Grossman, U.S. Special Representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan, is scheduled to visit Afghanistan and Qatar this week and the envoy requested the Pakistan government to let him tour the country as well so that the relations between the two allies
could be resumed. But Pakistan rejected the request.
Relations between Pakistan and United States are at the lowest point in the past decade since the unprovoked NATO/ISAF attack on two Pakistan check posts killing 24 soldiers on November 26, 2011.
The growing tensions between Islamabad and Washington threaten to set back the ongoing peace efforts in the terrorism stricken neighboring Afghanistan, where the latter is gradually evacuating troops after a decade long war against terror.
At this critical stage, Pakistan’s cooperation is regarded as crucial because of its long history of association with militant groups active in Afghanistan and it is presumed that the Pakistan government can persuade the Taliban to take part in peace
talks.
Last month, Pakistan had said that it had decided to review cooperation with the United States and NATO and the review is currently before parliament of the country. U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said on Tuesday Pakistan had decided the
review should be completed before Grossman’s next visit.
Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=9677
Posted by Asma Rafique
on Jan 18 2012. Filed under Latest News, Pakistan.
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It is quite foolish for the U.S. government to try to send Marc Grossman to Pakistan to play referee between the Pakistani government, the military and the Supreme court. The Pakistanis have been protesting almost year around against the U.S. control of their government, and they will see Grossman as someone coming in with Washington’s marching orders to tell Pakistanis what to do. It has already been established that the U.S. and Pakistan are hostile allies, surely an oxymoric definition, but they have been forced to play allies by the convergence and needs of the Afghan war. Accepting Marc Grossman as a U.S. finger-pointing viceroy at a time of an internal crisis among the three branches of the Pakistani government is, therefore, unthinkable! Nikos Retsos, retired professor