Lakhdar Brahimi, a Key Diplomat, to Retire

Lakhdar Brahimi, a veteran U.N. official who helped the United States manage Iraq's transition to self-rule, will retire at the end of the month, the United Nations announced.

Brahimi, 71, a former Algerian foreign minister, worked as a trouble-shooter in a variety of U.N. operations, including Haiti, Afghanistan and Iraq.

He helped forge an interim government in Afghanistan after the U.S.-led overthrow of the Taliban in 2001 and helped prepare Iraq for a transitional government in 2004 after U.S.-led forces had ousted President Saddam Hussein the year before.