WASHINGTON Richard Holbrooke, the Presidents Special Envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan, is in critical condition at a Washington hospital after surgery to repair a tear in an artery, the State Department said Saturday. PJ Crowley, the departments spokesman, said the surgery at George Washington University Hospital was completed Saturday morning on the 69-year-old Holbrooke and that his family is with him. Ambassador Richard Holbrooke was admitted to George Washington University Hospital yesterday. This morning, doctors completed surgery to repair a tear in his aorta. He is in critical condition and has been joined by his family, the spokesman said in a statement. Holbrooke was named to his post by President Barack Obama early in his administration. He felt ill while working on at the State Department on Friday and was rushed to the hospital. Holbrooke is a veteran diplomat who, as an assistant secretary of state under President Bill Clinton, was the chief architect of the 1995 Dayton accords that ended the war in Bosnia in the 1990s. He later served as the US envoy to the United Nations. He was a diplomat in President Jimmy Carters administration and was in charge of US relations with China when the US normalised ties in December 1978. Over the last two years, Holbrooke has been travelling to Pakistan and Afghanistan to drum up their support as the US intensified its attacks against the Taliban and al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. The US and allies have a combined force of about 150,000 troops to turn back Taliban advances and train Afghan soldiers and police.