Fri, January 23, 2009
Now come the envoys.
In a flurry of diplomatic activity in his first week in office, U.S. President Barack Obama named special envoys for two of the world's hot spots: the Middle East, and the Afghanistan-Pakistan region.
Obama picked George Mitchell, a former senator and seasoned international trouble-shooter, as an envoy for the Middle East.
The newly-sworn in president also tapped former ambassador to the United Nations Richard Holbrooke, as a special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan and related issues.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton:
SOUNDBITE: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, saying (English):
"Today you will see an an example of the robust diplomacy that the President intends to pursue."
Mitchell, a former senator also helped broker peace in Ireland:
SOUNDBITE: Special envoy George Mitchell, saying (English):
"Conflicts are created by human beings they can be ended by human beings. I saw it happen in Northern Ireland and it can happen in the Middle East."
Holbrooke, who helped broker the end to the war in Bosnia -- said forging stability Afghanistan and Pakistan would be no easy task.
SOUNDBITE: Special envoy Richard Holbrooke, saying (English):
"This is a difficult assignment. Nobody can say it has gone well with American men and women there now are fighting against a ruthless and determined enemy."
The moves come as Obama, who was sworn in on Tuesday, aims to quickly tackle foreign policy challenges he highlighted during his campaign.
Those include pursuing a policy of much broader engagement abroad than the former Bush administration and refocusing the fight against terrorism away from Iraq and back onto Afghanistan.
