World leaders pay tribute to ‘Bulldozer’ Holbrooke

IN his final words before emergency heart surgery, Richard Holbrooke, the influential US diplomat who died on Monday following complications, urged an end to America’s nine-year old Afghanistan conflict.

“You’ve got to stop this war in Afghanistan,” Holbrooke told his Pakistani surgeon before entering into surgery according to family members, the Washington Post has reported.

Yesterday, world leaders remembered him as “The Bulldozer” — a US diplomat with such a forceful persona he could drag politicians, military brass and even warlords to the negotiating table in a quest for peace.