Across Asia: Kazakhstan

US wants regional help

Special envoy Richard Holbrooke visited Kazakhstan yesterday to drum up regional assistance in stabilizing Afghanistan, the last stop on his tour of former Soviet states in Central Asia.

The recent surge in the US military contingent in Afghanistan has been accompanied by a US effort to enlist help from neighboring nations in rebuilding the war-ravaged country and to provide reassurances that the war won't spill over the border. Holbrooke's trip also included Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, where he met with heads of state and held talks on cooperation in Afghanistan.