Holbrooke jumps the gun?

Holbrooke jumps the gun?

Richard Holbrooke, the US special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan held a briefing in Washington DC, and gave reporters some important dates for their diary:

"President Karzai will be here May 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, and leave on the 14th. He will bring with him a large number of his senior cabinet officials, two of whom P.J. just mentioned, both of whom I’ve met with in the last three or four days. He will be here, of course, as you know, at the invitation of President Obama. We are going to make this a major trip in the strengthening of our relations between us and the government of Afghanistan."

 

"Then will come the peace jirga, not to be confused with the loya jirga, which has a different role in Afghan culture and society. This is a consultative jirga, as President Karzai and his cabinet have explained it to us, and it is now scheduled for May 20th. It was originally scheduled for prior to the trip to Washington. President Karzai decided to postpone it till after the trip for reasons which involve both the capacity to prepare for two major events back-to-back and also the value of preceding it with detailed talks with our government led by the president. So that’s May 20th and it’ll run for approximately three days, more or less, but I don’t know the exact number."

However, that delay in the date of the Jirga has not yet been confirmed by the Afghan president’s office.

The fact that Ambassador Holbrooke has pre-empted the official announcement by President Karzai about the timing of a major gathering of tribal leaders from across Afghanistan, is probably not going to help the already strained relations between Kabul and Washington.