WASHINGTON — A top architect of the Bush administration's policy of greater diplomatic engagement announced his resignation Friday amid signs that U.S. efforts on key issues have been losing momentum.
R. Nicholas Burns, the State Department's third-ranking official and one of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's closest aides, said he would leave his post in March for personal reasons.
Appearing next to Rice at the State Department, Burns said his decision to leave the foreign service was "just about the most difficult decision I've ever had to make. But I do so with the conviction that after 26 years in government service it's time for me to meet my obligations to my wife and three daughters and it's time to pursue other ventures outside the government."
Burns was a key member of the State Department inner circle that helped Rice formulate the strategy that began moving U.S. policy toward diplomatic conciliation beginning in 2005, after Bush's first term, when wars in Iraq and Afghanistan marked a hard-line U.S. stance toward adversaries.
As the undersecretary of State for political affairs, Burns led U.S. efforts to use inducements and deterrents to deal with Iran's nuclear programs. He also pushed for completion of a groundbreaking U.S.-India civil nuclear deal, and tried to defuse the brewing crisis over Kosovo's drive to break away from Serbia.
But U.S. efforts on Iran have lost international credibility, and the nuclear deal with India has been obstructed by politics in that country. Kosovo's majority ethnic Albanians and Serbs are at an impasse, and some observers fear a violent upheaval there.
Philip D. Zelikow, a former top Rice aide who left at the end of 2006, said that Burns believes he has accomplished a lot already and "isn't feeling a lot of policy frustrations that are motivating him to leave."
Zelikow, who has known Burns for more than 20 years, said Burns' departure would be "a great loss," but that after 26 years, "he's entitled to a rest."
In an interview, Burns said he believes progress on implementing the deal with India and an agreement on Kosovo can be made before he leaves. Iran, however, "is going to be a challenge for the United States for a long time to come," he said.
Asked whether he might consider joining the next presidential administration, he said, "I fully expect this will be a long-term move" to the private sector.
