Richard C Holbrooke

Richard C. Holbrooke, who died Monday at 69, was most often described in terms of his larger-than-life style. He had protean energy, bulldozer tenacity and an always visible ego, all of which he used in relentless pursuit of what he felt was America's duty: to try to fix the world's problems. But the last time I had a conversation with Holbrooke, he sounded frustrated. "How does this thing end? I don't know," he said last summer, talking about the overwhelming obstacles the U.S. faces in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Richard C. Holbrooke, who died Monday at 69, was most often described in terms of his larger-than-life style. He had protean energy, bulldozer tenacity and an always visible ego, all of which he used in relentless pursuit of what he felt was America's duty: to try to fix the world's problems. But the last time I had a conversation with Holbrooke, he sounded frustrated. "How does this thing end? I don't know," he said last summer, talking about the overwhelming obstacles the U.S. faces in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

A top U.S. envoy trying to force Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic from power took his mission to Serbia's president. Richard C. Holbrooke negotiated the agreement last year that brought peace to Bosnia-Herzegovina. Now, he is reportedly armed with a threat to reimpose economic sanctions on the rump Yugoslavia if Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic doesn't deliver Karadzic. Holbrooke said after meeting with Milosevic that the talks were "inconclusive and in progress."

Richard C. Holbrooke is being praised in the United States after his death as a giant of diplomacy, but in South Asia, the turbulent region that constituted his last assignment, his legacy received mixed reviews. In Kabul, he was regarded as out of touch with the society and too combative to forge a meaningful partnership with Afghanistan's leadership. But in Islamabad, Pakistan, he was lauded as a seasoned envoy who earnestly tried to strengthen Washington's fragile alliance with the country.

Richard C. Holbrooke, the U.S. special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, was in critical condition Saturday after undergoing surgery to repair a tear in his aorta, a State Department spokesman said. Holbrooke, 69, underwent surgery Saturday morning at George Washington University Hospital after becoming ill at the State Department the day before, spokesman Philip J. Crowley said. President Obama issued a statement Saturday evening saying he had spoken to Holbrooke's wife, author Kati Marton, and told her that he and first lady Michelle Obama were "praying for Richard.

Richard C. Holbrooke, the Obama administration's emissary to Afghanistan and Pakistan and one of the most celebrated American diplomats of the last half-century, died Monday, the State Department said. He was 69. Holbrooke, who in 1995 brokered the deal that ended the Bosnian war, died at George Washington University Hospital after having surgery to repair a tear in his aorta. A 6-foot-2, barrel-chested man, he was renowned for his ruthless negotiating style, which came in handy when he stood up to Yugoslav strongman Slobodan Milosevic and brokered the Dayton accords that ended the Bosnian conflict.

Obama administration officials have pledged to talk to world leaders no matter their views. On Tuesday, they showed the offer extends to Islamists who spend the day denouncing America from the street corners. U.S. envoy Richard C. Holbrooke met with Liaqat Baloch, a leader of Pakistan's Jamaat-i-Islami party. About an hour later, as the bearded scholar prepared to depart for an anti-American rally across town, the veteran diplomat said that despite their disagreements, the meeting had begun "a very useful dialogue."

Richard C. Holbrooke is being praised in the United States after his death as a giant of diplomacy, but in South Asia, the turbulent region that constituted his last assignment, his legacy received mixed reviews. In Kabul, he was regarded as out of touch with the society and too combative to forge a meaningful partnership with Afghanistan's leadership. But in Islamabad, Pakistan, he was lauded as a seasoned envoy who earnestly tried to strengthen Washington's fragile alliance with the country.

President Clinton's former chief negotiator in the Balkans told Congress on Tuesday that senior administration officials recognized the dangers of an increased Iranian presence in Bosnia but decided to give a green light to Iranian arms shipments in 1994 because it was the "least bad of a lot of lousy choices." "Policy sometimes requires you to make difficult choices--this was a difficult choice," said Richard C.

By ousting his top general in Afghanistan, President Obama may have solved the biggest personnel problem in conducting the war. But he made it clear that there are others, and hinted that more heads could roll. So when the president said he would tolerate debate but not division, some saw it as a message aimed straight at his special envoy for the region, Richard C. Holbrooke. Eighteen months ago, expectations were that the fabled diplomat who began his career in Vietnam and helped end the Balkan wars would become the dominant civilian official in an expanding U.S. effort in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Richard C. Holbrooke, the Obama administration's emissary to Afghanistan and Pakistan and one of the most celebrated American diplomats of the last half-century, died Monday, the State Department said. He was 69. Holbrooke, who in 1995 brokered the deal that ended the Bosnian war, died at George Washington University Hospital after having surgery to repair a tear in his aorta. A 6-foot-2, barrel-chested man, he was renowned for his ruthless negotiating style, which came in handy when he stood up to Yugoslav strongman Slobodan Milosevic and brokered the Dayton accords that ended the Bosnian conflict.

Richard C. Holbrooke, the U.S. special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, was in critical condition Saturday after undergoing surgery to repair a tear in his aorta, a State Department spokesman said. Holbrooke, 69, underwent surgery Saturday morning at George Washington University Hospital after becoming ill at the State Department the day before, spokesman Philip J. Crowley said. President Obama issued a statement Saturday evening saying he had spoken to Holbrooke's wife, author Kati Marton, and told her that he and first lady Michelle Obama were "praying for Richard.

By ousting his top general in Afghanistan, President Obama may have solved the biggest personnel problem in conducting the war. But he made it clear that there are others, and hinted that more heads could roll. So when the president said he would tolerate debate but not division, some saw it as a message aimed straight at his special envoy for the region, Richard C. Holbrooke. Eighteen months ago, expectations were that the fabled diplomat who began his career in Vietnam and helped end the Balkan wars would become the dominant civilian official in an expanding U.S. effort in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The American envoy's armed convoy rumbled through the dusty streets of Kabul, stopping at one polling place, then another, as Afghans voted in their first contested presidential election. In the August heat, Richard C. Holbrooke watched the balloting, his satisfaction tinged with concern. Widespread violence had been averted. But the integrity of the election, so vital to American plans, had yet to be proved. Mingling with people and sampling pastry sold by some children on a corner, Holbrooke said the process appeared "peaceful and orderly," but warned as he squinted at one of the complicated punch cards that "the test comes when people count the ballots."

Poll workers at a Kabul school didn't seem too alarmed Thursday to see voters struggling to mark their ballots by punching out the tiny paper circle called a chad. For a group of U.S. officials, however, the snag summoned disconcerting memories of ballot failures in Florida in 2000 that threw the American presidential election into turmoil. "From Dade County to Kabul, man," said a bemused Richard C. Holbrooke, U.S. envoy for the region, as he examined a ballot. His comment was one of the lighter signs of the anxiety U.S. officials felt as they watched an election that could be a turning point in massive effort to stabilize the country.

Obama administration officials have pledged to talk to world leaders no matter their views. On Tuesday, they showed the offer extends to Islamists who spend the day denouncing America from the street corners. U.S. envoy Richard C. Holbrooke met with Liaqat Baloch, a leader of Pakistan's Jamaat-i-Islami party. About an hour later, as the bearded scholar prepared to depart for an anti-American rally across town, the veteran diplomat said that despite their disagreements, the meeting had begun "a very useful dialogue."

The American envoy's armed convoy rumbled through the dusty streets of Kabul, stopping at one polling place, then another, as Afghans voted in their first contested presidential election. In the August heat, Richard C. Holbrooke watched the balloting, his satisfaction tinged with concern. Widespread violence had been averted. But the integrity of the election, so vital to American plans, had yet to be proved. Mingling with people and sampling pastry sold by some children on a corner, Holbrooke said the process appeared "peaceful and orderly," but warned as he squinted at one of the complicated punch cards that "the test comes when people count the ballots."

When President Bill Clinton picked Richard C. Holbrooke as his point man for Balkan policy in 1995, Bosnia-Herzegovina was embroiled in Europe's most brutal war since 1945, a conflict with a death toll higher than 200,000, most of them civilians, and atrocities that put "ethnic cleansing" into the lexicon of ghastly euphemisms. Today, the fighting is over, ended by a complex agreement negotiated in November, 1995 at a U.S. air base in Dayton, Ohio.