Woods said a special representative "historically has been an individual who basically co-ordinates among various entities, and in this case with regard to Ambassador Holbrooke, (he will be) co-ordinating amongst the various US government agencies that have equities with regard to Pakistan and Afghanistan."
In response to a question, the spokesman said the US "certainly look forward to working with Russia on Afghanistan. It's in both of our countries' interest to try to stabilise the situation in Afghanistan and bring about, you know, more economic development and security in the country."
Continuing, he observed, "it was a very, very strong signal that this Administration sent to the region when Ambassador Holbrooke was appointed to be the Special Representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan. So I think that, in itself, shows you how serious the Administration is about trying to work on these issues, and working with Russia will be a key component of that."
Woods said the special envoys appointed on Thursday for Pakistan and Afghanistan and the Middle East would report to President Barack Obama through Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
"Well, the special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan and this, you know, the special envoy for the Middle East, those two individuals will report through the Secretary to the President." "The assistant secretaries in the geographic regions cover a broad range of 'a broad number of' a large number of countries. And so, all of those things will be worked out. The important thing here is that we have real high-level attention on these two parts of the world that require serious attention and that are key to US national security interests," he stated in answer to a question.