New U.S. envoy in Afghanistan to talk security

KABUL (Reuters) - Richard Holbrooke, the new U.S. envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, was in the Afghan capital on Friday at the start of a three-day visit where he will meet President Hamid Karzai and other ministers, an official said.

Holbrooke, who arrived in Afghanistan from neighboring Pakistan, has so far been tight-lipped during his first visit to the region which has been labeled a fact-finding mission.

Holbrooke faces a tough task in Afghanistan complicated by the rivalry between Pakistan and India, the role of regional powers Iran and Russia, and the problems of maintaining an alliance of more than 40 nations.

Afghanistan is beset with internal problems, including a spreading Taliban insurgency, massive official corruption, a booming drugs trade, grinding poverty and a population increasingly wary of the presence of foreign troops.

Holbrooke, famed for negotiating the 1995 Dayton accord that ended the war in Bosnia, has admitted Afghanistan is a "tougher challenge than Iraq."

Security in the Afghan capital was tight ahead of Holbrooke's visit after a triple suicide bombing and gun raids on government buildings on Wednesday.

Violence in Afghanistan has reached its worst levels since the U.S.-led invasion that toppled the Taliban in 2001. Last year, some 5,000 people, including more than 2,000 civilians, were killed in fighting, the United Nations says.

Holbrooke will first meet with top security officials, including the defense and interior ministers, before meeting Karzai on Saturday.

(Writing by Jonathon Burch; Editing by Jeremy Laurence)