Richard holbrooke biography wikipedia

In a career alternating between financial executive and diplomat, Richard Holbrooke was perhaps best known as the architect of the Dayton peace accords that ended three years of war in Bosnia.

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However, in recent years he was most prominent in his role as President Barack Obama's special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan. Nicknamed "the Bulldozer", Mr Holbrooke gained a reputation for confronting warring leaders to get them to come to the negotiating table. These skills were tested in his efforts to get Kabul and Islamabad to effectively fight the region's resurgent Taliban and al-Qaeda militant groups.

He was educated at Brown University and was married to writer Kati Marton. He began his diplomatic career in Vietnam, and served as assistant secretary of state for Asia as well as US ambassador to Germany. It was while he was assistant secretary of state for European and Canadian affairs, between and , that he went to Bosnia as part of a peace-seeking delegation.

Over the course of various protracted and often difficult negotiations, Mr Holbrooke developed a rapport with then Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.

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They were said to have been on first name terms. There were stories of Holbrooke sipping a mid-morning pear brandy with Mr Milosevic at the peace talks in Dayton, Ohio. Mr Milosevic also reportedly hosted the US diplomat for an hour dinner near Belgrade at the former hunting lodge of long-time Yugoslav President Tito. Mr Holbrooke said he had no moral qualms about "negotiating with people who do immoral things".

His success at Dayton saw him nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize - one of several such nominations he received over his career. Although his mission to persuade Mr Milosevic to remove his troops from Kosovo failed, it did not damage his reputation as one of the best and toughest US diplomats. Mr Holbrooke had argued that to be effective the job must cover both countries.

Known for his blunt speaking, Mr Holbrooke held what was described as an "explosive" meeting with Afghanistan's president, Hamid Karzai, following the country's presidential election in Mr Holbrooke raised concerns about ballot-stuffing and fraud and said a second-round could make the election process more credible.