U.S. President Barack Obama's special envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke will travel to South Asia after attending the Munich security conference next week, the State Department said on Thursday.
"Ambassador Holbrooke ... is going, I think, on Tuesday to attend the Munich security conference and then he plans to travel subsequently to the region," State Department spokesman Robert Wood told reporters.
"He wants to go and ... touch base with various leaders in the region, and also to hear what they have to say in terms of what needs to be done to improve the situation in that region," Wood said without giving specifics on Holbrooke's travel plans.
Holbrooke, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, was named one week ago by Obama as special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan.