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US envoy Holbrooke in 'critical' condition
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US envoy Holbrooke in 'critical' condition
AFP - Sunday, December 12
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US envoy Holbrooke in 'critical' condition
WASHINGTON (AFP) - – Richard Holbrooke, the US special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, is critically ill following surgery and has been joined by family members at a Washington hospital, the State Department has said.
President Barack Obama said he and First Lady Michelle Obama "are praying for Richard," after speaking with Holbrooke's wife Kati.
"We continue to pray for his recovery, and support his family in this difficult time," Obama said in a statement.
Holbrooke, 69, took ill on Friday while working at the State Department on the building's seventh floor where US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has her office.
"This morning, doctors completed surgery to repair a tear in his aorta. He is in critical condition and has been joined by his family" at George Washington University Hospital, State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said.
The hard-nosed trouble shooter, Holbrooke is perhaps best known for brokering the 1995 peace agreement that ended three years of war in Bosnia.
As a special US envoy in the current Afghan conflict, he has had the daunting task of pushing Kabul and Islamabad to work together against resurgent Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Obama called him "a towering figure in American foreign policy, a critical member of my Afghanistan and Pakistan team, and a tireless public servant who has won the admiration of the American people and people around the world."
He said Clinton, Joint Chiefs chairman Admiral Mike Mullen and National Security Advisor Tom Donilon had visited Holbrooke at the hospital.
Holbrooke's hospitalization comes as the White House conducts a review of war strategy in Afghanistan, one year after Obama announced a deployment of an additional 30,000 US troops in a bid to turn around the war.
A senior defense official has said the review will likely credit the troop surge with improving security in Afghanistan, but warn that the insurgency is far from defeated.
The diplomat's health has at times been a concern. He underwent tests in New York in April for possible blocked arteries, though doctors gave him the all-clear to travel.
He maintains a hectic travel schedule, and was in Islamabad as recently as last month.
Dubbed "the bulldozer" for his impatient, hard-charging style, Holbrooke alternately browbeat and cajoled the nationalist leaders of former Yugoslavia until he succeeded in forging a peace deal in November 1995 in Dayton, Ohio, following a round of NATO air strikes against Serb forces.
The Dayton agreement has held the shaky Bosnian state together despite persistent tensions among rival Muslim, Serb and Croat communities.
At the time Holbrooke was an assistant secretary of state for European and Canadian affairs under president Bill Clinton.
But the accord, and the outspoken public role Holbrooke played in securing it, brought him international celebrity.
He told the story of the roller-coaster negotiations in a well-received book, "To End a War," in which he argued for a robust US foreign policy that includes a readiness for military action to prevent possible genocide.
But while considered a political heavyweight with a first-class intellect, Holbrooke's intense, blunt personality made him few friends at the State Department.
He reportedly clashed at times with president Clinton's inner circle, including then secretary of state Madeleine Albright.
He has long been considered a potential future secretary of state and probably would have been named to the post if Democrat Al Gore had won the presidency in 2000.
When Democrat John Kerry ran for president in 2004, he was again the front-runner for the State Department job. But he was passed over by Obama, who gave the prestigious assignment to his former rival for the presidency, Hillary Clinton.
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