By Arun Kumar, IANS,
Washington : US special envoy Richard Holbrooke is headed for Pakistan and Afghanistan on a trip that focuses on the plight of internal refugees and security issues and will also take him to India.
“Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke is travelling to Pakistan July 21 through 23 and then subsequently to Afghanistan,” White House spokesperson Robert Gibbs said Tuesday.
“We’re still trying to work through his schedule in Afghanistan and to a couple of the other stops, and we’ll get that information to you soon as we have it available,” he said without indicating when he would reach New Delhi.
During his stay in Islamabad, Holbrooke would “focus on a range of economic and security issues, in particular, the situation of the internal refugees and reconstruction plans for their return to their home”.
He plans to hold talks with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, army chief General Ashfaq Kayani and the head of the intelligence services, General Ahmad Shuja Pasha.
Holbrooke also plans to meet with representatives of those people displaced by fighting against Taliban militants in the northwest of the country.
State Department spokesperson Robert Wood told reporters that in Islamabad the envoy would also meet with citizens from Swat, Buner, Malakand, Peshawar, Dera Ismail Khan and South Waziristan, where Pakistani forces are mounting an offensive against insurgents.