A tribute to Richard Holbrooke
On 13 December, 2010, President Obama’s Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, died at the age of 69. Heads of State and Government will gather in Washington on 14 January to honour this dedicated diplomat.
Richard Holbrooke and former NATO Secretary General Javier Solana in 1999
At the time of his death, he was President Obama’s Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan. He will rightly be remembered for his success as a diplomat in negotiating an end to the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina, and for his part in the NATO efforts to resolve the crisis in Kosovo in 1998-99. But he also distinguished himself as an investment banker, a magazine editor, a charity executive and an author.
Ambassador Holbrooke was passionately committed to the search for peace in the former Yugoslavia. At Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, near Dayton, Ohio, Holbrooke negotiated the accords that ended the fighting in Bosnia. His role in this process won him a nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize - an honour that he was nominated for several times over the course of his career.
He held numerous important positions in the US diplomatic service. He was Ambassador to the United Nations, Assistant Secretary of State twice, and Ambassador to Germany, helping Europe emerge from the Cold War and encouraging NATO to welcome new allies.
More recently, Ambassador Holbrooke, as the US Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, dedicated himself to the people and problems of this complex region. As a key member of President Obama’s team, he helped shape the United States’ policy on the region. Ambassador Holbrooke’s death came just as the U.S. Administration released its review of Afghanistan policy, which affirmed the decisions on Afghanistan that NATO Allies and Partners took at their Summit in Lisbon.
Ambassador Holbrooke’s efforts over the years have supported NATO’s efforts to bring peace and security, whether to expand the NATO alliance in the post-Cold War environment, to encourage NATO involvement in the Balkans, and most recently, working for peace in Afghanistan.
Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussan honored Ambassador Holbrooke’s legacy, “I pay tribute to his diplomatic skills, strategic vision and legendary determination. He knew that history is unpredictable; that we sometimes have to defend our security by facing conflicts in distant places; and that the transatlantic alliance remains indispensable.”