New faces at today’s White House Af-Pak meeting

Posted By Josh Rogin Thursday, March 3, 2011 - 2:26 PM Share

President Barack Obama held his monthly White House meeting on Afghanistan and Pakistan on Wednesday morning with a new roster of officials in attendance.

Past White House Af-Pak meetings have included a wide range of national security officials, but with both U.S.-Afghanistan and U.S.-Pakistan relations at a low point, today's group was expanded to include top officials from the Justice Department, the Treasury Department, and several new members of the administration.

Attorney General Eric Holder and attended the meeting for the first time. Other officials who are new additions to the roster include new White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley, the new special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Marc Grossman, the new deputy secretary of State, Thomas Nides, head of the Office of the Defense Representative in Islamabad (via video conference), Vice Adm. Michael LeFever, and Deputy Ambassador to Afghanistan Tony Wayne (via video conference).

Returning officials in the room included Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice, National Security Advisor Tom Donilon, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, counterterrorism advisor John Brennan, Deputy NSA Denis McDonough, Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Michele Flournoy, CIA Director Leon Panetta, USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah, Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm. Michael Mullen, Joint Chiefs Vice Chairman James Cartwright, Afghanistan Ambassador Karl Eikenberry, Pakistan Ambassador Cameron Munter (via video conference), Deputy NSA Tony Blinken, CENTCOM Commander Gen. James Mattis, Commander, ISAF Commander Gen. David Petraeus, (via video conference), and NSC Coordinator for Af-Pak Doug Lute, and Deputy Treasury Secretary Neal Wolin.

Munter and LeFever have been intensely involved in the diplomatic crisis caused by the arrest in Lahore of CIA contractor Raymond Davis, which has stalled U.S.-Pakistani strategic cooperation. The Pakistani courts rejected Davis' claim on immunity Wednesday. Petraeus, Wayne, and many others have been dealing with the fallout of the accidental killing of 9 Afghan boys in Afghanistan's Pech Valley by U.S. forces Tuesday.

"We are deeply sorry for this tragedy and apologize to the members of the Afghan government, the people of Afghanistan and, most importantly, the surviving family members of those killed by our actions. These deaths should have never happened," Petraeus said on Wednesday.