WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Olympia J. Snowe, R-Maine, left Monday on a trip to Pakistan, Uzbekistan and Afghanistan as part of a five-member Senate delegation. The group is scheduled to meet with President Pervez Musharref of Pakistan and chairman Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan, and will consult with NATO leaders in Brussels to discuss international support for anti-terrorism efforts worldwide.

The delegation is expected to return Feb. 24.

Snowe, a member of the Senate Budget Committee, will join Senate Defense Appropriations Chairman Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, ranking member Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, Sen. Tim Hutchinson, R-Ark., Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., on the fact-finding trip to the region to assess U.S. actions to counter terrorism in the region.

“The United States has been successful in carrying out early phases of its mission in central Asia, and the president’s budget reflects the priority our nation will place on national and homeland defense,” Snowe said. “With expenditures of $1.8 billion a day to support the war on terrorism, the trip will provide a firsthand perspective of the U.S. action thus far – and the policy and budgetary challenges that lie ahead.