State Department Envoys Visit Pakistan's Volatile Northwest Frontier

Peshawar, Pakistan (AHN) - Two senior American diplomats visited Pakistan's violent and volatile northwestern frontier to see firsthand recent efforts to strengthen security and spur economic development in the region. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte and Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher held talks with officials responsible for the tribal areas near the Afghan border in Khyber.

The U.S. envoys visited the security and development sites and held talks with officials on various issues of mutual interests. They also met with tribal leaders and commanders of law enforcing agencies to discuss with them matters of mutual interests.

Negroponte and Boucher arrived in Pakistan on Tuesday to meet leaders of its new government, which plans to review its role in Washington's war on terror. Later on, they called on the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) Governor Awais Ahmed Ghani.

During the meetings, the envoys said that the Washington wanted to see Pakistan a democratic and prosperous country. They also assured that the United States would offer all the help it can to the Central Asian country as it undergoes political transition in Islamabad.