World pays tribute to diplomat Richard Holbrooke

BRUSSELS (AP) — They remembered him as "The Bulldozer" — a U.S. diplomat with such a forceful persona he could drag politicians, military brass and even warlords to the negotiating table in a quest for peace.

World leaders on today praised U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke for engineering the end of the 1992-1995 Bosnia war — Europe's bloodiest conflict since World War II — and for seeking to bring stability to war-torn Afghanistan.

Even Holbrooke's main opponent in the war in Bosnia, Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, expressed "sadness and regret" over Holbrooke's unexpected death Monday after surgery for a tear in his aorta. Karadzic had been hoping to call Holbrooke to testify in his genocide trial.

But in Afghanistan, the Taliban rejoiced at news of his death, claiming it was caused by failures in the U.S.-led war there and Holbrooke's "grappling with a constant psychological stress" from his position as President Barack Obama's special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan.

"The protracted Afghan war and the descending trajectory of the Americans' handling of the warfare in the country had a lethal dent on Holbrooke's health," the group said on jihadi Web sites monitored by SITE Intelligence Group, a private U.S.-based group that tracks Islamic militant communications.