US Envoy to Afghanistan, Pakistan in Critical Condition
VOA News 11 December 2010
Richard Holbrooke, the U.S. envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, is in critical condition after undergoing surgery at a Washington hospital.
Doctors operated on Holbrooke Saturday to fix a tear in his aorta, a key heart artery. U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley says the 69-year-old diplomat has been joined by his family.
The veteran diplomat previously served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and was the chief architect of the 1995 Dayton peace accords that ended the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Holbrooke was hospitalized Friday after falling ill during a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at the State Department in Washington.
A spokesman said Holbrooke was able to walk out of the meeting to seek medical attention.
U.S. President Barack Obama named Holbrooke as his special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan in 2009.
Holbrooke visited Islamabad last month, where he met with Pakistani officials about flood reconstruction and other economic issues.
He had seen doctors in April to address concerns about clogged arteries.
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