Obama names envoys for ME, Afghanistan

In a flurry of diplomatic activity in his first week in office, US President Barack Obama yesterday named special envoys for the Middle East and the Afghanistan-Pakistan region.

Newly confirmed Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Obama had chosen George Mitchell, a former senator and seasoned international trouble-shooter, as an envoy who will try to jump-start moribund Arab-Israeli peace talks.

Mr Obama tapped former ambassador to the United Nations Richard Holbrooke as a special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan and related issues.

Mr Mitchell, 75, is best known for peacemaking efforts in Northern Ireland, but he also has experience in the Middle East and was appointed by former President Bill Clinton to find ways to halt Israeli-Palestinian violence.

Mr Mitchell's 2001 report called for Israelis to freeze construction of new settlements and for Palestinians to crack down on terrorism. Mr Mitchell is the son of a Lebanese immigrant mother and a father of Irish descent.

Mr Holbrooke, 67, gained prominence by brokering the Dayton peace accords that ended the war in Bosnia and had been a contender for secretary of state in the administration of President Bill Clinton but the job was given instead to Madeleine Albright.

The naming of the two diplomats came a day after Mrs Clinton's nomination as secretary of state was overwhelmingly approved by the US Senate.

It also comes as Mr Obama, who was sworn in on Tuesday, is moving quickly to 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.

Mr Obama has ordered a full review of the US strategy in Afghanistan, where he has pledged to boost troop numbers, and told generals to take the first steps toward a pledge to withdraw troops from Iraq. Osama bin Laden and other top al Qaeda militants are believed to be hiding in the mountainous border region of Pakistan near Afghanistan.