Death of a diplomat

December 16th, 2010

It is considered bad form to speak ill of the recently departed and, truth be told, there is much to admire about US diplomat Richard Holbrooke, who died on December 13. Over a five-decade long career, he helped broker the Dayton Accords that ended one of the Balkans’ intractable wars and established the state of Bosnia, worked for full diplomatic recognition of China and always spoke out for peace over force.

Holbrooke’s final assignment was probably his most difficult. As US President Barack Obama’s special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, a tumultuous region if ever there was one, he was responsible for convincing Afghan President Karzai to step up as the US slowly drew down its forces. He was also working with Pakistan to ensure the fight against militants was stepped up. It was here that Holbrooke’s famed penchant for bureaucratic infighting served him ill. Instead of treating this perilous assignment with delicacy, he was like the proverbial bull in a china shop. He could be as harsh on his country’s own failings as he was on others, describing US aerial bombing of Afghan poppy fields as “the single most ineffective programme in the history of American foreign policy.” His abrasive style didn’t make him many friends in this region and his importance was supplanted when US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton edged Holbrooke out and took a more direct approach in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

That Holbrooke was not entirely successful in his final mission was not for want of trying. One newspaper last year said, only half-jokingly, that Holbrooke spent more time in Pakistan than President Asif Ali Zardari. And he did win some significant victories in his complex, intractable task. Holbrooke was among those who convinced the Obama administration to distinguish between al Qaeda and the Taliban and to bring the latter to the negotiating table with Karzai.

Richard Holbrooke was a realist, one who understood the need for an exit strategy, who knew Pakistan’s problems were too complex to be solved at once and who tried to bring accountability to the oodles of aid coming Pakistan’s way. After the simplistic militarism of the Bush administration, Richard Holbrooke’s diplomacy was a welcome change.