Originally posted by the Voice of America. Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America, a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in the public domain. US Envoy Richard Holbrooke Dies at 69 VOA News 13 December 2010 Richard Holbrooke, US special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan answers journalists' questions at a press conference at Foreign Ministry in Rome, Italy, 18 Oct 2010 Photo: AP Richard Holbrooke, US special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan answers journalists' questions at a press conference at Foreign Ministry in Rome, Italy, 18 Oct 2010 Richard Holbrooke, the veteran U.S. diplomat serving as special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, died Monday at the age of 69. Holbrooke was stricken Friday during a meeting at the State Department with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. He was rushed to a Washington, DC hospital where he underwent a 20-hour operation to repair a tear in the aorta, the large artery that moves blood from the heart to the rest of the body. That was followed by another operation on Sunday.  Earlier Monday, Clinton told reporters Holbrooke's condition was very critical. She said there had been an "outpouring of support" from around the world for the diplomat who she said had given nearly 50 years of his life to serving the United States. Among those who called were the president of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari. U.S. President Barack Obama described Holbrooke as a "towering figure in American foreign policy."  Among his major accomplishments was playing an instrumental role in negotiating the Dayton Peace Accords that brought peace to Bosnia-Herzegovina. Those accords, which were signed on December 14, 1995 by Serbian, Bosnian and Croat leaders, ended a vicious ethnic conflict that claimed 100,000 lives. .