Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff is off to Washington to take part in an exclusive and high-level discussion on the future of Afghanistan.

Ignatieff will join Richard Holbrooke, the U.S. special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, and other diplomats and security experts at a closed-door, invitation-only meeting tomorrow looking at stabilizing the region through measures such as negotiating peace with the Taliban, reining in Pakistan, shutting down rampant drug production and closer co-operation with Russia, Iran and other neighbouring states.

The Liberal leader is participating as an international human rights expert, said Jill Fairbrother, his spokesperson. But he feels compelled to attend this event in particular because of what he perceives as the absence of the Conservative government in the debate about the future of the war-torn country.

“(He’s attending) this one because he has something to say and the Canadian government hasn’t been participating in this dialogue with the U.S., and he believes we should be,” Fairbrother said.

The Tories have hired high-powered communications operatives, such as former White House press secretaries Ari Fleischer and Mike McCurry, spokespeople for George W. Bush and Bill Clinton respectively, to land Prime Minister Stephen Harper interviews that will let him raise Canada’s profile in the U.S. media.

But the government refused to follow the U.S. lead and name a special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan to better co-ordinate the future of the Afghan mission, drawing criticism in many quarters.