Holbrooke's Successor Chosen

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will announce retired diplomat Marc Grossman as the new U.S. envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, senior White House officials said Monday. Grossman will fill the gap left by Richard Holbrooke after his sudden death in December, a vacancy the Obama administration has taken its time to fill because of the deteriorating situations in both countries. In the interim, the administration has gone so far as to suspend high-level official contacts with Pakistan, and some members of Congress have warned Islamabad that they may cut off U.S. aid. Grossman enters at the beginning of a crucial year for the U.S. military as it prepares to start withdrawing troops from Afghanistan and making settlements with the Taliban this summer.