From Mark Landler, the New York Times:  Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has chosen Marc Grossman, a retired senior diplomat and former ambassador to Turkey, as the Obama administration’s new special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, a senior State Department official said Monday.

Mr. Grossman, who left the State Department in 2005 and is the vice chairman of a consulting firm, will succeed Richard C. Holbrooke, who died of a torn aorta in December, leaving a void in the senior policy-making ranks on one of the White House’s most pressing foreign-policy issues.

Mrs. Clinton met with Mr. Grossman on Monday and he was introduced to members of Mr. Holbrooke’s staff, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the appointment was not yet public. Mr. Grossman must still undergo a vetting process, the official said, though Mrs. Clinton may announce his appointment as soon as Friday.  (photo: worldnews.com)

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