Holbrooke’s Last Words: ‘Stop War In Afghanistan’

[GUNNER]

Holbrooke’s Last Words: ‘Stop War In Afghanistan’


WASHINGTON, Dec 14, 2010 (AFP) - Richard Holbrooke, the late US special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, had some stark final words as he was sedated and going in for surgery, the Washington Post reported Tuesday.

"You've got to stop this war in Afghanistan," Holbrooke told his Pakistani surgeon, the Post reported, citing unnamed family members.

Holbrooke, one of the most experienced US diplomats, died Monday as the administration of President Barack Obama reviews its strategy in Afghanistan. He was 69.

Holbrooke fell ill at work on Friday, was rushed to a Washington hospital and underwent what the Post described as a 21-hour operation to repair his aorta.

Working along with US military planners in Afghanistan, Holbrooke oversaw a tripling in the number of civilians in the war-ravaged country under a year-old plan to boost the country's agriculture, economy and civilian institutions.

The annual administration review on Afghan policy is due to discuss what progress has been made since Obama last year deployed 30,000 extra forces there to try to turn the tide of the war and prepare to start the US troop withdrawal in July 2011.

 

[Guest01]

I think this guy was a very focussed and dedicated man. Very focussed and dedicated to his country and his assignment. Surely US lost a very capable diplomat. May God bless his soul and may be finally find peace in the tranquil world.

To the topic, I think that it is best till we wait for some offical US reaction on this for anything. There have been too many fake news planted all over recently. On top of it, a Pakistani surgeon bit has been thrown in. I think let us just wait.

 

[Awesome]

Source? Sounds a little out there.

 

[alike]

As Mr. Holbrooke was sedated for surgery, family members said, his final words were to his Pakistani surgeon: "You've got to stop this war in Afghanistan."

Source: Washington Post Richard Holbrooke dies: Veteran U.S. diplomat brokered Dayton peace accords

 

[Bang Galore]

Source? Sounds a little out there.

I heard it mentioned in CNN's AC 360 too though the comment struck me as pretty odd. What would a Pakistani(born?) surgeon in the U.S. have to do with Afghanistan?

 

[GUNNER]

Source? Sounds a little out there.

It's an AFP story which is quoting Washington Post.

Here's the link to WP story...

Richard Holbrooke dies: Veteran U.S. diplomat brokered Dayton peace accords

 

[GUNNER]

What would a Pakistani(born?) surgeon in the U.S. have to do with Afghanistan?

I think you have never seen a man who has been sedated just before an operation..

 

[Devil Soul]

So this Doc had a label on his forehead stating that he is a Pakistani? excuse me he might be a American Pakistani, who got nothing to do with this war etc..

 

[Rafael]

You've caused enough damage to Pakistan Mr. Halbrooke, We have no sympathies to you and your Govt.

"Maut aayi to Pakistan Yaad Agya!!"

 

[Bang Galore]

I think you have never seen a man who has been sedated just before an operation..

Yup, that's what I thought; just didn't think that it was in good taste to mention it.

 

[Pak123]

Richard Holbrooke dies: Veteran U.S. diplomat brokered Dayton peace accords

In 1999, he returned to government service as President Bill Clinton's U.N. ambassador, where he pushed for more peacekeeping forces and drew attention to conflicts in Africa.

Back in action

Soon after Hillary Clinton was elected to the Senate in 2000, Mr. Holbrooke became her self-appointed senior foreign policy adviser and, in the 2008 Democratic presidential primaries, he cast his lot with Clinton, hoping to become her secretary of state. When she lost the nomination, he sought to ingratiate himself with Obama's camp. But when Clinton got the job he wanted, she turned to him to help resolve one of Obama's most intractable problems.

"When I came to the State Department, I was delighted to be able to bring Richard in and give him one of the most difficult challenges that any diplomat can face," Clinton said Monday. "And he immediately put together an absolutely world-class staff. It represents what we believe should be the organizational model for the future: people not only from throughout our own government, but even representatives from other governments all working together."

Even among his closest friends, Mr. Holbrooke's many assets - intellectual acuity, negotiating skills, experience working on some of the toughest foreign policy problems of his generation - were sometimes also counted as liabilities. To some, his brilliance translated as arrogance, his experience interpreted as know-it-all-ism.
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"He's the most egotistical bastard I've ever met," Vice President-elect Biden told President-elect Obama as Clinton made her choice known, according to an account by The Washington Post's Bob Woodward. "But maybe he's the right guy for the job."

His long diplomatic career positioned him perhaps better than anyone else in the Obama administration to navigate the often-messy intersection of diplomacy, counterinsurgency and politics.

Mr. Holbrooke felt a strong responsibility, as the only person in the administration who had lived and worked through Vietnam, to bring up his perspectives of that conflict during the three-month White House policy review last year that led to the current strategy in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Mr. Holbrooke's sometimes-abrasive style raised hackles in the administration and partner governments, including with Karzai. James L. Jones, then Obama's national security adviser, tried to persuade the president to fire Mr. Holbrooke, according to officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive internal deliberations, but Clinton intervened to protect his job.

Mr. Holbrooke had his own frustrations with internal sniping, congressional reluctance to fund the diplomatic and economic sides of the war effort, and the increasing power of the military to influence policy.

His stock rose and fell numerous times during the past two years as his intense yet open way of doing business - including extensive contacts in the media - made him a particular target of the military and some in the White House.

Mr. Holbrooke's office on the State Department's ground floor was filled with a diverse mix of policy experts and academics, some of whom were hired precisely because they disagreed with the George W. Bush administration's Iraq war strategy and had little better to say about Obama's efforts in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

He was a strong advocate of major increases in development and governance aid. Under his direction, the number of U.S. civilian officials in Afghanistan has more than tripled, to exceed 1,000.

One of his first initiatives was to end the U.S. focus on poppy eradication in Afghanistan, on the grounds that removing the livelihood from opium production that sustained many Afghan farmers was counterproductive.

Mr. Holbrooke crossed swords with another part of the administration in Pakistan, where he ordered an end to the automatic renewal of aid contracts with U.S. and other foreign nongovernmental organizations with long histories there.

Mr. Holbrooke experienced health problems in August, when he underwent treatment for heart problems and canceled one of his frequent trips to Afghanistan and Pakistan.

On Friday morning, he was taken to George Washington University Hospital after he became flushed and suffered chest pains during a meeting with Clinton.

He underwent a 21-hour operation that ended on Saturday to repair his aorta.

As Mr. Holbrooke was sedated for surgery, family members said, his final words were to his Pakistani surgeon: "You've got to stop this war in Afghanistan."

Source:Richard Holbrooke dies: Veteran U.S. diplomat brokered Dayton peace accords

 

[Spring Onion]

RIP.

The late Holbrooke said the right thing at last breath of his life.

This wrong war has brought more insecurity, more deaths and more miseries to the human around the world specially in our region.

Americans please stop killing us.

 

[Paan Singh]

so who is going to take his place ??any info..

 

[mjnaushad]

Lets hope he survive the surgery. Otherwise the Pakistani surgeon will become a ISI agent who killed Halbrook. Halbrook was too close to capturing OBL. NYT reported.

 

[StingRoy]

@mjnaushad... he passed away. Read the article Pak123 posted above.