24 January,2009 12:24 PM IST | | PTI
The Special US Representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan, Richard Holbrooke, is planning to visit the region as soon as possible, the State Department said.
"I spoke to Ambassador Holbrooke just briefly after the President's event here, and he said he was going to try to get out as soon as he could, but he didn't have a timeframe on that," State Department Spokesperson, Robert Woods, told reporters during the course of his daily press briefing.
At a function held at the State Department headquarters at Foggy Bottom, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced the appointment of Richard Holbrooke, the former US Ambassador to the UN, for this newly created position.
Holbrooke, the Asia Society president at the time of his new assignment, would report directly to the Secretary of State and the US President, Wood said. Holbrooke resigned for this position on Thursday.
"A Special Representative historically has been an individual who basically coordinates among various entities and, in this case, with regard to Ambassador Holbrooke, coordinating amongst the various government agencies that have equities with regard to Pakistan and Afghanistan.
So that's u2013 that's really what that u2013 that's what the substance of that particular title," Wood said in response to a question.
