04 February 2009
Special Representative Departs for Afghanistan, Pakistan
Ambassador Holbrooke is beginning consultations
Washington — The new U.S. special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan is making his first visit to the region to begin consultations, a State Department spokesman says.
At the daily briefing, deputy department spokesman Robert Wood said Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, who was named special representative January 22, would depart for the region February 4.
Holbrooke is going to the region without a specific agenda.
Wood said Holbrooke told him “this is an orientation trip,” and that “he's not carrying any messages to any of these governments from either the secretary [of state] or the president, and he's not going there to lecture.”
The mission is to gather information, consult and return to Washington as the Obama administration reformulates policies for the region, Wood said.
Holbrooke will stop in London first, and then attend the 45th annual Munich Conference on Security Policy along with Vice President Biden, National Security Adviser James Jones and Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Wood said. The Munich Conference is being held February 6-8.
After the conference, Holbrooke will depart for Pakistan, Afghanistan and India, Wood said, in that order. “And then he will report back to the secretary and the president.”
India was included in Holbrooke's trip because of its role in regional security, Wood said. “It has an interest in Afghanistan. And he wants to hear from the Indian government in terms of how we can all better contribute to peace and stability in Afghanistan.”
Problems in the Kashmir region will not be discussed, Wood said, and are not part of Holbrooke's diplomatic portfolio.
ENHANCING AFGHANISTAN SECURITY
Among the issues Holbrooke will be exploring during his first engagement in the region will be expanding security in Afghanistan. And that is on the agenda for the Munich conference.
A significant goal of the Obama administration is to raise the level of security in Afghanistan by approving extra U.S. troop deployments this year to nearly double the current level of approximately 34,000 personnel. “There needs to be established a baseline of security in Afghanistan,” Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell told reporters at a February 3 briefing. “The mission fundamentally is a counterinsurgency operation.”
“We have to reverse the downward trend in security in some parts of the country,” he said. “This will be a multifaceted approach to dealing with the problems we face in Afghanistan. I mean, everybody acknowledges this cannot be done with troops alone, but troops are essential at least in the near term to try to reverse the slide in some parts of the country in security.”
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