The United States’ special representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan, Ambassador Marc Grossman, resigned from his post on Wednesday citing personal reasons.
The US State Department confirmed Grossman would leave the post on December 14, adding the US would continue the work done by the diplomat over the last two years in Pakistan-Afghanistan region. “After almost two years in the position, and with Secretary Clinton’s agreement, he will return to private life,” a State Department spokesperson told Pakistan Today.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had asked Ambassador Grossman to return to government service from his retirement in January 2011 as the special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan. “The secretary thanked Ambassador Grossman for his efforts to create the diplomatic surge that Secretary Clinton laid out in her February 2011 speech at the Asia Society,” it added.
“Those efforts, leading a diplomatic campaign through the Istanbul, Bonn, Chicago, and Tokyo conferences, have put in place a network of regional and international support for Afghanistan post 2014 and into the next decade,” Laura Lucas, Press Unit Chief at the Office of Public Diplomacy for South Asia, said. Grossman’s work also helped set the conditions for an Afghan peace process that would enable Afghans to talk with other Afghans in pursuit of a negotiated settlement to end decades of conflict, the spokesperson noted.
“This has been a major line of effort in support of the president’s objectives to disrupt and defeat al Qaeda and ensure that Afghanistan can no longer become a safe haven for terrorists,” the statement added. “Under Ambassador Grossman’s leadership, the United States also has worked to build a relationship with Pakistan based on identifying our shared interests and acting on them jointly. This work will continue. The strategies and efforts that Ambassador Grossman has shepherded will continue to be executed by the State Department,” Laura said. After Grossman’s departure, Ambassador David Pearce, currently principal deputy special representative, will serve as the acting special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan (SRAP) is one of the important positions the administration of US President Barack Obama created “to coordinate particularly vexing diplomatic challenges that spanned several countries”. Grossman, who is planning to return to private life, was named Special Envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan by Obama on February 22, 2011, replacing late Richard Holbrooke.
