Richard Holbrooke - Obama Presidency Oral History Back Richard Holbrooke Index / People Transcripts Huma Abedin ...Which—by the way, including Richard Holbrooke , which was not a boring conversation... ...were two—it's one of the reasons why Richard Holbrooke was one of the first people that sh... ...George Mitchell was sent out. Richard Holbrooke was sent out. Todd Stern, when h... ...come,” or, “Jim's going to come,” or, “ Holbrooke 's going to come.” Nobody called fo... Gil Kerlikowske ...and eradicating the poppy fields.” But Richard Holbrooke , the special representative t... Jeffrey Bader ...you got a job as staff assistant to Richard Holbrooke , then assistant secretary of state fo... ...was where I was when I found my way to Richard Holbrooke and the East Asia Bureau, which I'... ...Quinn, who was the special assistant to Richard Holbrooke , assistant secretary for Asia. My bos... ...his recommendation and passed it on to Dick Holbrooke —whom I didn't know from Adam—and ther... ...from Adam—and there I was, assigned as Dick Holbrooke 's staff assistant, which basicall... Dan Feldman ...at that point was Richard [“Dick” C.] Holbrooke . So, that was the first time that w... ...world, and started crossing paths with Holbrooke more in that domain. Ultimately, whe... ...of those initial conversations with Ambassador Holbrooke when he was coming into th... ...Sure. One of the ways that I came to Holbrooke 's attention was through his closes... ...for a position in this new office that Holbrooke was taking up, SRAP—the specia... ...Department together. As I said, I think Holbrooke was appointed special representativ... ...and the State Department, and between Holbrooke and others. But at least, it wen... ...was renamed, after he died, the Holbrooke Conference Room, up on the sevent... ...turn had had a long relationship with Holbrooke . He had identified an up-and-comin... ...NSC called. He would sometimes go with Holbrooke to Deputies Committee and Principal... ...Clinton? Yes, how was— I think in Holbrooke 's mind, and the way he describe... ...the back-and-forth between [laughs] Holbrooke and folks at the White House about wha... ...fired. I guess this was now 2010. And Holbrooke really circling the wagons internally... ...Karzai, given Karzai's sense that Holbrooke was actively undermining him in his bi... ...in Afghanistan, perhaps Helmand, who Holbrooke had met on some of his trips, and wa... ...literally two weeks or less before Holbrooke died. I think it was the end o... ...And this was exactly the channel that Holbrooke was most excited about and trying t... ...those initial discussions, debriefed Holbrooke . I think, in fact, the day tha... ...think, in fact, the day that Holbrooke died, or the day that he had—his aort... ...think she always anticipated after Holbrooke 's death that she would find somebody... ...also succeeded—but didn't replace— Holbrooke . I think his goal was to just, i... ...knew us quite well. Another thing that Holbrooke institutionalized—I don't think tha... ...the first American to go to Pakistan. Holbrooke had him take me with him, as th... ...strong. And among the things that Holbrooke said in the ambulance on the way to th... ...particularly focused on—in part because Holbrooke and Paul Jones—and then Frank—were al... ...became de facto lead for Pakistan under Holbrooke and Marc Grossman, and then als... ...or two in office. It was an area that Holbrooke was very focused on—I think in par... ...developed quite well, in part because Holbrooke always felt it was critical to th... ...of why is Kerry there, and not either Holbrooke or Secretary Clinton and others. So t... ...it happened within months of Holbrooke dying. Ray Davis and those incidents... ...the primacy of diplomacy, going back to Holbrooke 's days. Holbrooke always describe... ...going back to Holbrooke's days. Holbrooke always described himself as being th... ...of course, told everybody that Holbrooke was his diplomatic wingman—and in fact... ...was a point that constantly frustrated Holbrooke , that these decisions were frequentl... ...the international contact group that Holbrooke envisioned. But what we built was ove... ...of that. It was really—we all lived Holbrooke 's mantra and his definition o... ...about the reconciliation efforts that Holbrooke was engaged with immediately before hi... ...which was something that actually Holbrooke used to talk about quite a bit a... ...think he was literally the last person Holbrooke yelled at before he died; because ever... ...at before he died; because every day, Holbrooke would [laughs] just lay into them with... ...and others, to take more ownership. So Holbrooke sent me [laughs]—we were trying to sig... ...Teams] around Afghanistan. And Holbrooke heralded this and the importance o... ...front—so one of the things that Holbrooke put a lot of time into his first yea... ...coordination than we ever expected. So Holbrooke , as I said, was constantly frustrate... ...implementing aid assistance. So after Holbrooke , we finally got to closure, rathe... ...we talked about earlier in Pakistan— Holbrooke went a few weeks after we did and sai... Show more... 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