Veteran US diplomat Richard Holbrooke is in a critical condition in hospital this afternoon after doctors completed surgery to repair a tear in his aorta, the US State Department has announced.
Mr Holbrooke (69) named special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan when US president Barack Obama took office in 2009, earned a reputation as a "bulldozer" in helping negotiate the 1995 accord that ended the Balkans war.
The diplomat, who also served as the US ambassador to the United Nations and to Germany and twice was assistant secretary of state, fell ill at the State Department yesterday and was taken to the hospital.
