WASHINGTON (AFP)--Vice President-elect Joe Biden will visit Southwest Asia this week with other U.S. senators, ahead of taking office alongside Barack Obama Jan. 20, officials said Monday.
The outgoing chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will be joined on the trip by John Kerry, his successor as head of the panel, said Biden spokeswoman Elizabeth Alexander.
Citing security reasons, she said the delegation's itinerary will be released only once the mission was underway.
The destinations were not listed, but for U.S. officials Southwest Asia typically includes Afghanistan, Pakistan and parts of the Middle East. Also, U.S. leaders rarely visit Pakistan without also stopping in India.
"The purpose of this trip is fact-finding: in the coming months both the executive and legislative branches will carefully review U.S. policy toward this region, and the trip will allow its participants to bring current and first-hand information to these reviews," Alexander said.
She stressed that Biden was going in his capacity as a senator, and would be accompanied also by Democratic colleague Jack Reed along with Republicans Susan Collins and Lindsey Graham.
"The fact-finding delegation will make it clear to foreign leaders that they are not there to speak on behalf of the U.S. government, or convey policy positions for the incoming administration," Alexander said.
But coming so soon before president-elect Obama and Biden are inaugurated, the trip is bound to be seen as more consequential as the new administration pursues a change of tack in President George W. Bush's "war on terror."
-Dow Jones Newswires, 201-938-5500
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Publié le 05 janvier 2009 Copyright © 2009 Dowjones