By IRNA,
Islamabad : Pakistan has welcomed appointment of new US special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan and said it will work with him for regional peace and stability.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last week appointed Marc Grossman, a retired senior diplomat and former ambassador to Turkey, as the Obama administration’s new Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Grossman, who left the State Department in 2005 and is presently the vice-chairman of a consulting firm, will succeed Richard C. Holbrooke, who died of a torn aorta in December 2010.
‘We welcome Secretary Clinton’s announcement on the appointment of Marc Grossman and wish him success,’ Pakistan’s Foreign Office spokesperson, Tehmina Janjua, said.
Grossman, who now works for the Cohen Group, was the Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs, in addition to his post in Turkey. He was also Under Secretary of state for Political Affairs, the highest-ranking job in the State Department for a career diplomat.
Foreign affairs experts say that Grossman could face an early challenge in Pakistan, where the government has arrested an American employee – Raymond Davis- on the charges of killing of two Pakistani men in Lahore, resulting in a diplomatic row between the two allies.
The Pakistani spokesperson also applauded the US Secretary Hillary Clinton’s call to respect the principles of non-interference and non-intervention in Afghanistan, adding that the sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity of Afghanistan must also be fully respected.
‘It is Pakistan’s considered view that stability, peace and development in the South Asia region is not only important for Pakistan but has global ramifications,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
She said Pakistan has reached out to both Afghanistan and India to promote an environment conducive to stability and development. ‘It is imperative that the international community support this endeavour.’
The spokesperson said Pakistan values its relations with the US and is cognizant of the need for greater strategic coherence especially when a large number of NATO/ISAF troops and the international community, in a broader sense, are engaged on issues germane to Afghanistan.