The two struck up a friendship during then-candidate Barack Obama's trip to the region last year.

VOA: standard.2009.04.26

The State Department says the purpose of his trip is to advance the goal of the two-state solution and comprehensive peace in the region.

VOA: standard.2009.04.09

Almost a century ago, boll weevils destroyed two-thirds of the cotton crop in this region.

VOA: standard.2010.08.10

Iranian state media report the two spoke by phone one day after a suicide bomber killed more than 40 people in the southeastern region Sistan-Baluchistan, along the Pakistani border.

VOA: standard.2009.10.19

Wood said British Foreign Secretary David Miliband joined Clinton in the weekend intervention, reflecting the two Western allies' worry that the crisis would negatively affect efforts against extremists in the Pakistani-Afghan border region.

VOA: standard.2009.03.16

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat Erekat told reporters that if Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continues to reject the two-state solution it would weaken Palestinian moderates, strengthen the extremists and push the region toward chaos and violence.

VOA: standard.2009.04.17

The military is trying to complete a two-month offensive to dislodge Taliban fighters in the Swat Valley region, and will soon begin a similar operation to hunt down top Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud in South Waziristan.

VOA: standard.2009.07.04

In an audio tape released last week, the spiritual leader of radical Somali Islamist group al-Shabab, himself from Somaliland, ridiculed the breakaway region's continued attempt at democracy and independent statehood, saying that despite its nearly two-decade quest the region remains isolated and politically divided.

VOA: standard.2009.09.07