(Adds quotes, background) By John Whitesides WASHINGTON, Jan 29 (Reuters) - Richard Holbrooke, U.S. special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, will make his first trip to the region next week after stopping in Germany for a security conference, the State Department said on Thursday. Holbrooke, a foreign policy veteran who negotiated the 1995 peace agreement that ended the Bosnian war, will confer with regional leaders as he tries to coordinate a new administration strategy on Afghanistan. President Barack Obama appointed Holbrooke as a special representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan last week. State Department spokesman Robert Wood said Holbrooke would stop at the Munich Conference on Security Policy on Tuesday to hear from European leaders before heading to the region, with expected stops in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Wood did not say if Holbrooke would visit other countries, such as India, during the trip. "He wants to go and touch base with various leaders in the region, and also hear what they have to say in terms of what needs to be done to improve the situation," Wood said. Obama has ordered a review of U.S. strategy in Afghanistan and the Pentagon is expected to give a formal recommendation on increasing troop levels within days. The United States has 36,000 troops in Afghanistan but is considering an increase to 60,000 troops or more over the next 12 to 18 months to deal with growing violence and a resurgent Taliban and al Qaeda in Afghanistan. A White House official said on Wednesday Obama also would press Afghan President Hamid Karzai to extend government control beyond the capital and fight corruption in a policy with a "significant nonmilitary component." Holbrooke, a former ambassador to the United Nations, faces a daunting challenge in dealing with the war in Afghanistan and its tense and fragile border with Pakistan. New U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has suggested she will be seeking more regional support in Afghanistan. She could look to India, central Asian states and even China and Russia for help. The United States also has stepped up pressure on Pakistan to battle jihadi groups since the attacks in Mumbai, India, in November that killed 179 people and raised tensions between the two south Asian nuclear rivals. The Munich conference will give Holbrooke a chance to confer with European leaders and gather support for a more comprehensive approach in Afghanistan. The conference is an annual gathering of government officials and foreign and defense policy experts. Also attending the Munich conference on behalf of the United States will be Vice President Joe Biden and White House national security adviser James Jones. (Reporting by John Whitesides; Editing by Doina Chiacu and David Wiessler)
Supporters of the Pakistani Islamist party Jamat-e-Islami chant slogans during a protest in Karachi, January 25, 2009. The protest was organised by Jamat-e-Islami party against military operations and drone attacks in ...
