Holbrooke was the leading light of US diplomatic efforts: Obama
World
Holbrooke was the leading light of US diplomatic efforts: Obama
US President Barack Obama praised the late Richard Holbrooke as a leading light of US diplomacy whose career formed a chronicle of American foreign policy.Holbrooke, who died on 13th December 2010 at the age of 69, was at the center of US foreign affairs from the war against the Taliban and Al- Qaeda in Afghanistan. He was the leading light of a generation of American diplomats who came of age in Vietnam. It was a generation that came to know the tragic limits and awesome possibilities of American power, Obama said. Obama was among the dignitaries who gathered for a memorial service for Holbrooke, special US envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, at Washingtons John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Those in attendance included former President Bill Clinton, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Pakistans President Asif Ali Zardari and Vice President Joe Biden, who just returned from a trip to Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq. Hillary Clinton said she and Holbrooke were a team and there was simply no one like him in the world. Richard was brilliant, blunt and he did fight until the final bell for what he believed in, Clinton said. She said he so tenacious that he even followed her into a ladies room in Pakistan to make his case. Holbrooke died after undergoing surgery to repair a tear in his aorta that was discovered when he fell ill on 10th December 2010 while working at State Department headquarters in Washington. Holbrooke spent the past two years visiting Afghanistan and Pakistan and seeking support from allies to help promote economic development there.
