The future of the office of the Special US Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan would be left to the successor of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, a senior official has said.
“Obviously, her successor will have every right to look at the structure of that office and every other office in this building and make decisions about whether that still makes sense and who ought to lead it, et cetera,” State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland told reporters at her daily news conference.
She was responding to questions on recommendations coming from at last two think-tanks in recent days that with the war in Afghanistan winding down, it is time that the office of the Special US Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan be merged with the South and Central Asia Bureau of the State Department.
“Well, Secretary Clinton, I think, has been very satisfied with the structure for handling these issues that she set up when she came into the building,” Nuland said. “It’ll certainly stay for the duration of her tenure is my understanding,” she added.
Richard Holbrook was the first occupant to the post which was announced in January 2009. His successor Marc Grossman, resigned last month. Hillary has left the decision to name the new Special US Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan to her successor. Hillary would leave her current post next month, though no formal announcement has been made yet.
