"We are in talks with the Taliban on a daily basis through both political and security channels. I'm not going to get into the details of those discussions here, to protect those discussions, which are covering a wide range of issues," Sullivan told reporters at a White House news conference.
After 18 years of war, the US and the Taliban signed the peace deal in Doha on Saturday to facilitate intra-Afghan dialogue in Oslo this month and the withdrawal of all foreign forces from Afghanistan in 14 months.
Special United States envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan Marc Grossman has resigned after leading the American diplomatic campaign in the volatile region for two years as President Barack Obama's pointsman to the region. Grossman would be replaced by Deputy Special US Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan David D Pearce in an acting capacity. His resignation would come into effect on December 14.
The United States has called for an end to the Assad regime in Syria, insisting that it will continue supporting the Syrian Opposition.
State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland threw enough hints which could be interpreted that Grossman could have had encounter with Taliban representatives, but did not respond directly to such a question at her press conference.
The appointment of veteran diplomat Derek Mitchell, who was till now the Special US Representative and Policy Coordinator for Myanmar, was confirmed by the Senate on Friday and he is expected to leave for that country soon.
United States' relationship with Pakistan is very tense but the two countries are working to resolve the issues, the Pentagon said on Monday, days after the "failed" talks held by the Special US Representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan Marc Grossman in Islamabad.
Amid a raging political storm back home, Pakistan's envoy to the United States Husain Haqqani has left for Islamabad, where he would explain his position with regard to the controversy over a secret memorandum in which his country's civilian leadership purportedly sought American help to stave off a possible military takeover.
Ahead of the crucial Istanbul conference on Afghanistan, the United States has said it wants India and China to play a "constructive role" in bringing long-term peace to the war-torn country.
Marc Grossman, former United States under secretary of state for political affairs, is expected to replace the late Richard Holbrooke as Barack Obama administration's special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan. The post has been vacant since Richard Holbrooke, 68, who was the Special US Representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan for two years, died suddenly last December.An announcement in this regard is expected to be made by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
India's unilateral offer was again relayed by the then Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon in his meeting with the Special US Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke on February 16, 2009 in New Delhi, wherein the latter praised India's developmental role in Afghanistan.
Noting that Pakistan is a complicated country, which faces huge economic, energy and water shortage, a top Obama administration official has said that the country needs the United States' support.
During the meetings, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's Special Envoy on Afghanistan and Pakistan S K Lambah and the top US officials discussed the progress made in Afghanistan so far and how the two countries can work together to achieve their common objective of defeat al Qaeda and the Taliban, and help in the emergence of a stable and democratic Afghanistan.
"Special Representative Holbrooke will also travel to India and the United Kingdom where he will have additional meetings with counterparts and government officials," a State Department announcement said, without mentioning the specific dates when he would be in India.
The massive US civilian aid flowing into Pakistan would be squandered or stolen, a powerful American Senator has said, arguing that rampant corruption in that country would make effective aid distribution a challenge.
Special US Representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke on Tuesday said that the Obama administration would soon announce a range of actions for Pakistan in the field of water, energy and security.
"Militants operating out of Pakistan and Afghanistan continue to threaten Afghan stability as well as stoke tensions between Pakistan and India," Gen Votel said.
The three most powerful elements of Pakistani politics, President Asif Ali Zardari, opposition leader Nawaz Sharif and the Army are "coming together" to fight the "common enemy" of terrorism, the top United States envoy to the Pak-Afghan region has said.
Special US Representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke will be travelling to Europe to consult leaders in Germany, France and Russia, before proceeding to Kabul to attend the inauguration of Hamid Karzai for his second term as Afghanistan's president.
Ahead of the key strategic dialogue with Pakistan, the Obama administration on Wednesday shot down Islamabad's plea to help it resume peace talks with India and mediate on key disputes with New Delhi on issues including Kashmir.
Al Qaeda has started feeling the heat as a result of the intensification of American efforts against it in the Af-Pak region, a top Obama Administration official has said.
"Read my lips," said Richard Holbrooke, special US representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan, "I am not working on that problem," when asked by a Pakistani journalist if the Obama administration was 'serious to appoint any adviser to resolve this issue,' since as the latter contended, "We all know that deep down, there is no solution of Afghanistan and the South Asia problem, without resolving the Kashmir issue that is controlled by Indian government."
The independent task force set up last year included Richard Holbrooke, the Special US Representatives for Pakistan and Afghanistan, and General James Jones, National Security Advisor. But both of them stepped down from the task force before the first draft was written, and as such they are not associated with the report, it says.
Holbrooke's statement is contrary to India's position that the entire state of Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of the country; which has its physical boundary with Afghanistan.
'Much as the Palestinian issue remains the core obstacle to peace in the Middle East, the question of Kashmir must be addressed in some meaningful way to bring stability to this region,' he said. He hoped the Special US Representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan will work towards a 'just and reasonable' solution to the issue.
The United States has asked Pakistan to prove its seriousness in fighting terrorism by matching their rhetoric with that of action on the ground than by mere "verbal commitment".
"We are troubled and confused in the sense about what happened in Swat, because it is not an encouraging trend," Richard Holbrooke, the Special US Representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan told the PBS news channel in an interview.
Special United States Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke said he would soon head towards the troubled region in South Asia to have a first-hand assessment of the situation on the ground.In his acceptance speech, soon after he was appointed as the Special US Representative for the troubled region by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Holbrooke termed the Pakistan situation as extremely complex.
"As the ISI tries to rein in those militant proxies that have slipped from Islamabad's grasp, it will likely try to regain their support by redirecting their attention away from Pakistan and toward India, an enemy on which both Islamabad and the militants can agree. As a result, it is likely India will come under attack again," Stratfor warned.
The foreign ministers from Pakistan and Afghanistan are arriving in Washinton D.C next week for consultations, as part of United States' efforts to contact high-level leaders from the region to frame its new Afghan policy.
As a result of which Pakistan would have to make arrangements for all USD 700 million (around Rs 46 hundred crore) to purchase eight F-16 from the United States.
The much anticipated peace talks between the Taliban and the United States might not happen as well, a US official said, as the Special US envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan left Qatar without any talks with the Afghan insurgent group.
They have also urged the Obama administration to review its decision in this regard.
The United States has ruled out any mediation on the Kashmir issue as long as India rejects such a proposal and asked Pakistan to avoid employing militancy as an instrument of state policy.
Describing India's concerns as legitimate, a top United States official has said that there is no immediate danger of foreign fighters from Afghanistan moving towards the Indian border after 2014, when American troops leave the country.
Indian-Americans can make a "significant difference" in helping first ever woman United States presidential candidate Hillary Clinton break the ultimate glass ceiling.
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