14 December 2010

Holbrooke Remembered as Diplomat and Statesman

Ambassador Holbrooke, in this September 15 photo, visits Pakistani children who survived recent floods and live in a camp set up for displaced people in Sindh province.

By Merle David Kellerhals Jr.
Staff Writer

Washington — Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, who died December 13 in Washington, is being remembered as a consummate diplomat, statesman and troubleshooter for the United States for nearly 50 years, from the war in Vietnam to conflict in the Balkans to the United Nations and finally as President Obama’s special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan. He was 69.

But Holbrooke will likely be remembered the most for his role in negotiating the 1995 Dayton Peace Accords that ended the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Obama paid homage to Holbrooke, who served five Democratic presidents, starting with John F. Kennedy in the early 1960s, as “a true giant of American foreign policy who has made America stronger, safer and more respected.”

“He was a truly unique figure who will be remembered for his tireless diplomacy, love of country and pursuit of peace,” Obama said in a December 13 statement.

Holbrooke was serving as the State Department’s special representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan at the time of his death. He died after complications from surgery to repair a torn aorta.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Holbrooke “served the country he loved for nearly half a century, representing the United States in far-flung war zones and high-level peace talks, always with distinctive brilliance and unmatched determination. He was one of a kind — a true statesman — and that makes his passing all the more painful.”

Holbrooke was a key part of the team that is to present a strategic review of the current conflict in Afghanistan to the president by December 16. Named to the newly created post of special representative on the second day of the Obama administration in January 2009, Holbrooke had been working to find a path to stabilize Afghanistan and assist Pakistan in ousting international terrorists and remnants of the former Taliban regime that controlled Afghanistan before October 2001.

Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said: “That we have been making steady progress in this war is due in no small measure to Richard’s tireless efforts and dedication. I know he would want our work to continue unabated. And I know we will all feel his bully presence in the room as we do so.”

U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said Holbrooke, with whom he began working during the administration of President Jimmy Carter, was among “the most formidable and consequential public servants of his generation, bringing his uncommon passion, energy, tenacity and intellect to bear on the most difficult national security issues of our time.”

U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan Cameron Munter said he regarded Holbrooke as a close friend and one of Pakistan’s best friends. “Richard had an abiding commitment to deepening the partnership between the United States and Pakistan,” Munter said in a statement from Islamabad December 14.

Ambassador to Afghanistan Karl Eikenberry said that throughout Holbrooke’s long career, he has been a partner of those trying to foster peace. “From Vietnam to the Balkans and now to Afghanistan, he’s done it by showing America’s strength and by showing our compassion. Our efforts in Afghanistan lost a powerful advocate today,” Eikenberry said.

Holbrooke, born in New York City on April 24, 1941, served under Presidents Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Carter, Bill Clinton and Obama. His first posting as a young foreign service officer in 1963 was to Vietnam, where he served as a field officer and as a staff assistant to two U.S. ambassadors and was a junior member of the U.S. delegation during early Paris peace talks aimed at ending the war.

As an assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, Holbrooke, then 35, helped to normalize relations with China. And as the U.S. ambassador to Germany in the early 1990s, he helped a rapidly changing Europe emerge from the half-century-long Cold War. With his encouragement, NATO began expanding with new members in Eastern Europe.

But his most significant diplomatic achievement was in negotiating the Dayton Peace Accords that ended the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina 15 years ago this week, Obama said. The final accords were signed in Paris December 14, 1995. The accords — formally named the General Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina — were named for the place where the talks were held, at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio.

Later, as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Holbrooke was successful in helping break a political impasse and strengthen the United States’ relationship with the United Nations, and he elevated the cause of HIV/AIDS and Africa onto the international agenda, Obama said in his White House statement.

“And throughout his life, as a child of refugees, he devoted himself to the plight of people displaced around the world,” Obama said.

Vice President Biden paid tribute to Holbrooke December 13, calling him “a great friend” and one of the United States’ “greatest warriors for peace.”

“Richard Holbrooke was a larger-than-life figure, who through his brilliance, determination and sheer force of will helped to bend the curve of history in the direction of progress,” Biden said. “He touched so many lives and helped save countless more.”

(This is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://www.america.gov)