Holbrooke Dies
Politico reports:
Veteran diplomat strong>Richard Holbrooke< died Monday at George Washington University Hospital in Washington after surgery to repair a tear in his aorta. He was 69.
The special U.S. representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan was taken there Friday after collapsing during a meeting on the State Department's seventh floor, where his longtime friend Secretary of State strong>Hillary Clinton's< office is located. He died after undergoing surgery for more than 20 hours Friday-Saturday, followed by a second procedure Sunday designed to improve his circulation.
Several colleagues were surprised to hear that Holbrooke had suffered a serious health issue having seen him in recent days at various high-profile diplomatic events that were part of a jam-packed schedule.
"I just saw him at a dinner on Wednesday and he was totally fine," one said.
But in April, Holbrooke was strong>grounded< by doctors from traveling due to clogged arteries, and underwent a procedure to clear them.
"I am fine, I just need to undergo this procedure," he e-mailed at the time, saying he planned to be in the office the next week.
The hard-charging Holbrooke is best-known for leading U.S. efforts to negotiate the end to the Bosnian war, and has been a longtime adviser to Democratic politicians. He began his diplomatic career as an adviser to the team at the Paris negotiations to end the Vietnam War, and was one of the 100 global thinkers of 2010 honored at a party last month by Foreign Policy magazine, which Holbrooke previously edited.
He was married to journalist and author Kati Marton.
"Richard Holbrooke has been one of the brightest stars of American diplomacy over the last several decades," Foreign Affairs editor-in-chief Gideon Rose, author of a new book, "How Wars End," told POLITICO on Saturday.
