US envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke dies
December 14, 2010 by Trend PK
Filed under Breaking News
Richard Holbrooke, who was President Barack Obama’s special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, died on Monday, an administration official confirmed. He was 69 years old.
The veteran US diplomat, who brokered the 1995 peace agreement that ended the Balkans war, had been a key player in Obama’s efforts to turn around the faltering 9-year-old war in Afghanistan. Holbrooke, who also served as the US ambassador to the United Nations and to Germany and twice was assistant secretary of state, died after surgery on Saturday to repair a tear in his aorta. He fell ill at the State Department on Friday. His portfolio included serving as the US ambassador to the United Nations and Germany and he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize seven times. Holbrooke joined Obama’s administration in 2009 as special representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan, a tough job co-ordinating the approach to trouble spots that are key foreign policy priorities for Obama. Holbrooke had been very critical of President George W. Bush’s Afghanistan policy. His position in the Obama administration was considered critical as the new president sought to crackdown on Al-Qaeda and a resurgent Taliban in the region.
Washington: Richard Holbrooke hospitalised
US Ambassador Richard Holbrooke was hospitalised in Washington after collapsing during a meeting at the State Department, officials said.
Holbrooke, the US special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, collapsed in Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s office and was rushed to George Washington University Hospital, where he was being treated for a blood clot. Sources told that Holbrooke was able to walk out of Clinton’s office under his own power and he was doing OK.
Taliban show interest in negotiations: Holbrooke
Richard Holbrooke, the US special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, said that Taliban associates have been reaching out for talks about ending the war but that formal negotiations are not taking place.
Holbrooke spoke a day after a senior NATO official confirmed that the alliance has provided safe passage for Taliban leaders to travel to Kabul for face-to-face talks with the US-backed Afghan government. The account was the most detailed yet of the US and NATO role in the clandestine talks, aimed at bringing an end to the 9-year-old war in Afghanistan. On the various groups operating in the war-torn country, Holbrooke named the Al-Qaeda with which he ruled out any possibility of talks, the Afghan Taliban, which he said seems to be a loose organisation with a very shadowy arrangement. He also named the Pakistani Taliban or the TTP, the Haqqani network, which he called a notorious, separate group of Afghan Taliban inside Pakistan, who do a great deal of the mayhem and carnage inside Afghanistan. Holbrooke declined to further discuss the peace moves in Afghanistan, saying nobody’s interests were served by the constant speculation about talks. International troops and Afghan security forces have been putting pressure on the Taliban in recent months in eastern and southern areas where the movement’s heartland is located. But despite being heavily outnumbered, the militants have fought back, inflicting record casualties on NATO forces.
Obama’s plan to visit Pakistan holds greats significance: Holbrooke
October 22, 2010 by Trend PK
Filed under World News
WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama’s pledge to visit Pakistan and invite President Asif Ali Zardari to Washington is vitally important in terms of strengthening the strategic partnership between the two nations, US special envoy for the region Ambassador Richard Holbrooke told a group of Pakistani journalists Thursday.
Holbrooke spoke in the backdrop of a high point in US-Pakistan relations on Wednesday when during the top level Pakistani delegation’s visit for strategic dialogue, President Obama received the Pakistani delegation at the White House.
The special US envoy said President Obama reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to Pakistan’s economic and democratic development and committed to visit Pakistan in 2011.
The Obama Administration is helping both civilian government and the Pakistani army to grapple with flood recovery challenge, Holbrooke
US aspires for democratic Pakistan, says Holbrooke
US Envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke has said that the United States aspires for a democratic Pakistan.
Talking to Pakistani journalists in Washington, Holbrooke said that US is not involved in direct negotiations with Taliban. He said that President Obamas consent to visit Pakistan is a big success.
Richard Holbrooke also said that US would not mediate in the Kashmir dispute. He urged Pakistan and India to resolve the issue bilaterally. Richard Holbrooke also said that legislation for ROC is slow. He regretted for not achieving the required results.
US should help resolve Kashmir issue for peace in region: Qureshi
Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said that US should resolve the Kashmir issue in order to have peace in the region; where as the special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke said that democratic institutions in Pakistan are facing problems.
Pakistan on Wednesday praised US President Barack Obama for saying he would visit the country next year, calling it a sign of commitment between the troubled war partners. Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, speaking afterward at the Brookings Institution think-tank, called his meeting with Obama very satisfying. The fact that he has agreed to visit Pakistan next year, the fact that he has decided to invite the president of Pakistan to the United States of America, that is the level of engagement that is taking place, Qureshi said. The United States has played a delicate balancing act, seeking to show Pakistan it seeks a relationship beyond cooperation on Afghanistan while also trying to broaden its ties with India, the world’s largest democracy. But Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi acknowledged obviously there are concerns that remain between Pakistan and the United States. Richard Holbrooke, the special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan said that Pakistan is an important ally in war on terror and Pak-US talks are taking place because of Pakistan and not of Afghanistan. Holbrooke also said that Pakistan experienced extraordinary floods and the flood affected area is as big as whole of Italy. US will continue to provide every possible aid and assistance for the flood affectees, he added.
US should resolve Kashmir issue to have peace in region: Qureshi
Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said that US should resolve the Kashmir issue in order to have peace in the region; where as the special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke said that democratic institutions in Pakistan are facing problems.
Pakistan on Wednesday praised US President Barack Obama for saying he would visit the country next year, calling it a sign of commitment between the troubled war partners. Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, speaking afterward at the Brookings Institution think-tank, called his meeting with Obama very satisfying. The fact that he has agreed to visit Pakistan next year, the fact that he has decided to invite the president of Pakistan to the United States of America, that is the level of engagement that is taking place, Qureshi said. The United States has played a delicate balancing act, seeking to show Pakistan it seeks a relationship beyond cooperation on Afghanistan while also trying to broaden its ties with India, the world’s largest democracy. But Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi acknowledged obviously there are concerns that remain between Pakistan and the United States. Richard Holbrooke, the special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan said that Pakistan is an important ally in war on terror and Pak-US talks are taking place because of Pakistan and not of Afghanistan. Holbrooke also said that Pakistan experienced extraordinary floods and the flood affected area is as big as whole of Italy. US will continue to provide every possible aid and assistance for the flood affectees, he added.
US should resolve Kashmir issue to have peace in region: Qureshi
Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said that US should resolve the Kashmir issue in order to have peace in the region; where as the special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke said that democratic institutions in Pakistan are facing problems.
Pakistan on Wednesday praised US President Barack Obama for saying he would visit the country next year, calling it a sign of commitment between the troubled war partners. Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, speaking afterward at the Brookings Institution think-tank, called his meeting with Obama very satisfying. The fact that he has agreed to visit Pakistan next year, the fact that he has decided to invite the president of Pakistan to the United States of America, that is the level of engagement that is taking place, Qureshi said. The United States has played a delicate balancing act, seeking to show Pakistan it seeks a relationship beyond cooperation on Afghanistan while also trying to broaden its ties with India, the world’s largest democracy. But Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi acknowledged obviously there are concerns that remain between Pakistan and the United States. Richard Holbrooke, the special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan said that Pakistan is an important ally in war on terror and Pak-US talks are taking place because of Pakistan and not of Afghanistan. Holbrooke also said that Pakistan experienced extraordinary floods and the flood affected area is as big as whole of Italy. US will continue to provide every possible aid and assistance for the flood affectees, he added.
US should resolve Kashmir issue to have peace in region: Qureshi
Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said that US should resolve the Kashmir issue in order to have peace in the region; where as the special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke said that democratic institutions in Pakistan are facing problems.
Pakistan on Wednesday praised US President Barack Obama for saying he would visit the country next year, calling it a sign of commitment between the troubled war partners. Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, speaking afterward at the Brookings Institution think-tank, called his meeting with Obama very satisfying. The fact that he has agreed to visit Pakistan next year, the fact that he has decided to invite the president of Pakistan to the United States of America, that is the level of engagement that is taking place, Qureshi said. The United States has played a delicate balancing act, seeking to show Pakistan it seeks a relationship beyond cooperation on Afghanistan while also trying to broaden its ties with India, the world’s largest democracy. But Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi acknowledged obviously there are concerns that remain between Pakistan and the United States. Richard Holbrooke, the special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan said that Pakistan is an important ally in war on terror and Pak-US talks are taking place because of Pakistan and not of Afghanistan. Holbrooke also said that Pakistan experienced extraordinary floods and the flood affected area is as big as whole of Italy. US will continue to provide every possible aid and assistance for the flood affectees, he added.
Holbrooke says US helping Pakistan on humanitarian grounds
The US envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke denied any link between his efforts for Pakistan and the US fight to stamp out Taliban and Al-Qaeda extremists in northwestern tribal regions near the border with Afghanistan.
We are not helping in the flood zones as part of the war against the Taliban. We are doing it because it’s the right thing to do for 20 million people, Holbrooke said. It’s not strategic, it’s not political, it’s humanitarian.
Holbrooke who was visiting Europe urged the latter to help boost aid to the victims of devastating floods there that have left millions homeless.
The situation in Pakistan is extraordinary. An area larger than Italy was put under water, over 20 million people were affected, Richard Holbrooke told reporters in Paris.
The amount of money to reconstruct what has been destroyed in Pakistan is going to be in the tens of billions of dollars, he said. People are desperate to go back to their land and homes but there are no homes to go back to.
