Last Words

America's chief envoy to Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke spoke chilling last words about the nine-year military conflict before his death Monday night.

"You've got to stop this war in Afghanistan," Holbrooke told his Pakistani surgeon before entering a 21-hour operation, the Washington Post reported.

Holbrooke was the Obama administration's special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, a man whose diplomatic skills and understanding of Afghanistan and Pakistan were a valuable asset to the United States.He died on December 13, 2010, in Washington due to complications from heart surgery.

As Assistant Secretary of State in the Carter administration, Holbrooke oversaw weapons shipments to the Indonesian military as it killed a third of East Timor’s population. In 1980, he played a key role in the Carter administration’s support for a South Korean military crackdown on a pro-democracy uprising in the city of Kwangju that killed hundreds of people. During the 1990s Holbrooke was seen as one of the key figures in the dismantling of Yugoslavia. He was also a prominent Democratic backer of the Bush administration’s decision to attack Iraq in 2003. Holbrooke served as President Obama’s chief envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan until his death.