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Pakistan's leaders have told visiting US envoy Richard Holbrooke there must be trust between the nations as "nothing else will work". Pakistan's foreign minister also said there was a "gap" in opinion over US drone attacks on Pakistani territory. Mr Holbrooke has met President Asif Ali Zardari, who told him that Pakistan was "battling for its own survival". Mr Zardari said Pakistan needed "unconditional support" to fight terrorism and extremism. Mr Holbrooke, the joint US envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan, and Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, arrived in Islamabad after talks with Afghan...

I first laid eyes on Richard Holbrooke (he won't remember) on Monday evening, September 21, 1992. Some ridiculously wealthy Manhattan socialite had thrown a party for Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic, then the new cause du jour, and some boutique human rights group — a bogus one, I realized in retrospect, now defunct, though its chieftain has since moved to greener pastures and is still active — had decided that I might be useful and had flown me up for the soirée. As it was, nobody was interested in me, I had a drink or two, ate some peanuts, and went...

WASHINGTON, March 31 (UPI) -- Attempting to eradicate poppy fields in Afghanistan is counterproductive, the United States' top envoy to the country says. Even though U.S. President Barack Obama's new strategy for Afghanistan calls for continued efforts to destroy the flowers used in the production of opium, Richard Holbrooke, the administration's coordinator of Afghanistan policy, called the practice "wasteful and ineffective" at a Brussels forum this month, USA Today reported Tuesday. Moves to eradicate poppies have been "pushing farmers into the Taliban's hands" because it destroys their livelihoods, Holbrooke reportedly said.

THE HAGUE | Top U.S. envoy Richard C. Holbrooke met Tuesday with a senior Iranian official, in the Obama administration's first direct diplomatic contact with the Islamic republic. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told reporters the brief meeting would not be the last. In another unprecedented move, Mrs. Clinton instructed her delegation to an international conference on Afghanistan to hand to the Iranians a letter asking that Tehran help return three American citizens known or thought to be in Iran to the United States. Obama administration meets with Iran Nicholas Kralev (Contact) Tuesday, March 31, 2009 Comment Print Font...

WASHINGTON, March 30, 2009 – The new U.S. strategy in Afghanistan will include unprecedented integration of military and civilian activities, two key leaders in the effort said yesterday. Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of U.S. Central Command, and Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, spoke with host John King on the CNN program “State of the Union.” Holbrooke said that in the wake of a full review of Afghanistan policy ordered by President Barack Obama, he and Petraeus plan to meet soon to work on details for the way forward. “Dave Petraeus and I are...

Here is video of Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Richard Holbrooke laying out the current approach to the War in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Holbrooke has been named by Obama as a Special Envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan to lead the diplomatic efforts, while Petraeus is the commander on the military side. Holbrooke comes across as a total Obama hack, saying Obama "took charge" of meetings on Afghanistan/Pakistan "like no other President" he has seen. Gen. David Petraeus is a true patriot, and he comes across as very capable and focused on winning the fight rather than advancing political goals. At...

Now that President Obama has announced his new strategy for Afghanistan, you may be focused on the number of new troops that will deploy there: 17,000 on the way, with 4,000 more trainers and advisers to join them by fall. Before you think "quagmire," consider what, to my mind, makes this plan so impressive: The troop increase is part of a much broader strategy encompassing the entire South Asia region. It emphasizes economic aid and diplomacy as much as guns. As Richard Holbrooke, Obama's special representative for AfPak, put it: "The media is talking about a military surge. What Obama...

The Obama administration has conducted a vigorous internal debate over its new strategy for Afghanistan, expected to be unveiled by the president in a speech Friday. According to two U.S. government sources close to the issue, senior policymakers were divided over how comprehensive to make the strategy, involving an initial boost of 17,000 U.S. troops. On the one side were Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Deputy Secretary of State James B. Steinberg, who argued in closed-door meetings for a minimal strategy of stabilizing Afghanistan that one source described as a "lowest common denominator" approach. The goal of these...

According to Richard Holbrooke, Richard Holbrooke is essentially this country's top diplomat -- Hillary Clinton is merely his "pupil. This despite the fact that Holbrooke has hit the trifecta of shady business dealings over the last few years: a member of AIG's board with more than $800,000 in compensation, a managing director at Lehman Brothers, and the recipient of a "Friends of Angelo" loan from Countrywide (that alone was enough to get Jim Johnson thrown under the Obama campaign bus). Now comes another revelation from the New York Times. Despite repeated denials, according to three sources, Holbrooke did offer former...

PARIS — Every time Radovan Karadzic, the onetime Bosnian Serb leader, appears in court on war crimes charges, he has hammered on one recurring claim: a senior American official pledged that he would never be standing there. The official, Richard C. Holbrooke, now a special envoy on Afghanistan and Pakistan for the Obama administration, has repeatedly denied promising Mr. Karadzic immunity from prosecution in exchange for abandoning power after the Bosnian war......

BRUSSELS (AFP) — US Ambassador Richard Holbrooke said Saturday that NATO's air attack on former Yugoslavia a decade ago was "the right thing to do" and had improved the lives of Kosovo Albanians and Serbs. Speaking at the Brussels Forum conference, Holbrooke -- former envoy to the Balkans -- recalled how 10 years ago this week he had given the final ultimatum to former strongman Slobodan Milosevic to comply or face air strikes. "I look back on it and I think that sometimes it's necessary to use force, and the result was good in the end," the new US representative...

WASHINGTON – Obama administration special envoy Richard Holbooke was on the American International Group Inc. board of directors in early 2008 when the insurance company locked in the bonuses now stoking national outrage. Holbrooke, a veteran diplomat who is now the administration's point man on Pakistan and Afghanistan, served on the board between 2001 and mid-2008. During that period, AIG undertook the aggressive investment strategies that led to a near-collapse and forced a multibillion-dollar federal bailout. President Barack Obama has insisted his administration was not responsible for AIG's financial woes, and a White House spokesman said Thursday that Holbrooke was...

Here is video of CNN Reporter Christiane Amanpour talking with Campbell Brown about the serious situation in Pakistan where the Pakistan Government has recognized the right for the Taliban to impose Sharia Islamic Law in the "Swat Region" of the country. This is in the North close to Afghanistan. Amanpour talks about how this likely will threaten the region of Peshawar (Waziristan) right on the Afghanistan border, as the Taliban likely try to spread their influence there. Amanpour is a radical leftist in much of her reporting, but even she recognizes the danger of what is happening and also indirectly...

MUNICH, Germany (AFP) – The US administration signalled a new spirit of international cooperation this weekend but called for its allies to do more and painted a bleak picture of the war in Afghanistan. Vice President Joe Biden used the Munich Security Conference in the southern Germany city to say that Barack Obama's White House sought a "new tone" in foreign relations, particularly with regard to Russia and even Iran. "I come to Europe on behalf of a new administration determined to set a new tone not only in Washington, but in America's relations around the world," he said on...

ichard Holbrooke, the administration's new envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan will make his first trip to the region next week, the State Department said Thursday. Holbrooke will travel to South Asia after attending a security conference in Munich, Germany, acting department spokesman Robert Wood told reporters. Although his schedule was not set, he was expected to travel to Afghanistan and Pakistan. It was unclear whether he would travel to neighboring India, which is still engaged in a tense standoff with Pakistan after the December terror attacks in Mumbai. Wood said that Holbrooke will "touch base with various leaders in the...

In wee morning hours on Friday, January 23, a U.S. spy plane killed at least 15 in Pakistan near the Afghanistan border. It was Barack Obama's first blood and the U.S.'s first violation of Pakistan's sovereignty under the new dministration. The attack was an early sign that the newly minted president may not be overhauling the War on Terror this week, or even next.

Now that Hillary Clinton has been confirmed as Secretary of State, the Obama administration will announce Thursday two high-profile appointments -- former senate majority leader George Mitchell (D-Me.) as Middle East envoy and former U.N. ambassador Richard Holbrooke as envoy for Afghanistan, Pakistan "and related matters," sources close to the administration said. Mitchell will be charged with rebuilding the Middle East peace process in the wake of the three weeks of violence between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas. Holbrooke will take on the difficult job of soothing relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan, whose border is a haven for...

Barack Obama will mark a radical break in American foreign policy this week by unveiling a team of diplomats tasked with ushering in a new era of dialogue with enemies abroad. As Hillary Clinton prepares for Senate confirmation hearings this week, she will head a group of advisers who are virtual opposites to the appointees made by President George W Bush. While Bush favoured aggressive neoconservative ideologues, Obama has selected people whose doveish credentials seem impeccable. They will be responsible for reversing the political unilateralism of the Bush years and opening direct negotiations with hostile states, potentially ranging from Syria...

07 Jan 2009 Transition officials confirm that President-elect Obama has asked Dennis Ross, Richard Haass, and Richard Holbrooke, to serve as his chief emissaries to world hot spots. It's expected that Ross will get the Iran portfolio, that Holbrooke, the hard-headed architect of the Dayton Peace Accords, will take the tough (and tougher) Southwest Asia portfolio, which includes India, Afghanistan and Pakistan, and that Haass will deal with the Middle East.

Karadzic demands Holbrooke, Albright appear in court AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic demanded on Wednesday that former U.S. peace mediator Richard Holbrooke and ex-Secretary of State Madeleine Albright appear at the U.N. war crimes tribunal to back his claims of an immunity offer from the United States. Karadzic, who was transferred to the Hague's International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia last week to face war crimes and genocide charges after 11 years on the run, challenged the legality of the case against him, a filing released by the tribunal showed. In the document, Karadzic repeated...