Mark Toner said Ambassador Holbrooke is on his seventh trip to the region in the last year. He’s in Afghanistan today [17 February], where he met with General McChrystal, General Caldwell, President Karzai, Foreign Minister Rassoul, Interior Minister Atmar, as well as the NATO Senior Civilian Representative Ambassador Mark Sedwill and the UK SRAP Ambassador Sherard Cowper-Coles as well as the interagency team promoting agriculture sector development.

“Discussed a range of issues, including, obviously, Operation Moshtarak in Marjah, Helmand province, as well as the training of the Afghan National Police. And in Marjah, civilians have been involved in every phase of the planning and execution of the stabilization effort, working alongside coalition forces and the Afghan military to support Afghan Government efforts to deliver governance and stability to the area immediately after the security operations”, he said.

Mark Toner said: “From Afghanistan, he’ll travel to Pakistan and then – not in any particular order – to Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Georgia, and Berlin. It’s his first visit to the five Central Asian countries in his capacity as SRAP. Three of them border Afghanistan, obviously, and all five are involved in the region. So he looks forward to the opportunity for face-to-face talks”.