Envoy Holbrooke critical after heart surgery

Veteran diplomat Richard Holbrooke, the president's special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, was in critical condition Saturday after surgery to repair a tear in his aorta.

State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said the surgery at George Washington University Hospital was completed Saturday morning on Holbrooke, 69, and that his family was with him. He became ill Friday while at work at the State Department.

Hospital officials did not respond late yesterday to an e-mail seeking more information.

President Barack Obama called the diplomat "a towering figure in American foreign policy" and said he is praying for his recovery.

Obama in a statement last night said he had spoken with Holbrooke's wife and told her that he and first lady Michelle Obama are praying for him. Obama called Holbrooke a critical member of the administration's Afghanistan and Pakistan team, and "a tireless public servant."

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton visited Holbrooke at the hospital.

The veteran diplomat is perhaps best known for helping broker the 1995 agreement that ended the war in Bosnia.

He served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations during the Clinton administration. He also was U.S. ambassador to Germany from 1993 to 1994 and then assistant secretary of state for European affairs.

Holbrooke's career with the foreign service dates back to his posting in South Vietnam in 1962 and included time as a member of the U.S. delegation to the Paris Peace Talks on Vietnam.