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| WASHINGTON — James F. Dobbins, the veteran diplomat who has served as the United States special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, is leaving government this month, following a tumultuous year in which the Obama administration settled on a plan for withdrawing American forces from Afghanistan but ran into a roadblock in trying to pursue peace talks with the Taliban. | WASHINGTON — James F. Dobbins, the veteran diplomat who has served as the United States special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, is leaving government this month, following a tumultuous year in which the Obama administration settled on a plan for withdrawing American forces from Afghanistan but ran into a roadblock in trying to pursue peace talks with the Taliban. |
| Mr. Dobbins, 72, will be succeeded by his deputy, Daniel F. Feldman, whose ties to Secretary of State John Kerry date back to Mr. Kerry’s 2004 presidential campaign. | Mr. Dobbins, 72, will be succeeded by his deputy, Daniel F. Feldman, whose ties to Secretary of State John Kerry date back to Mr. Kerry’s 2004 presidential campaign. |
| In an interview, Mr. Dobbins took a hopeful, if somewhat guarded, view of the troubled political situation in Afghanistan. | In an interview, Mr. Dobbins took a hopeful, if somewhat guarded, view of the troubled political situation in Afghanistan. |
| The sizable turnout in the Afghan elections to select a successor to President Hamid Karzai initially raised hopes of a smooth political transition. But allegations of fraud in the runoff between the two remaining candidates, Abdullah Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani, have cast a cloud over the political process and delayed the signing of an agreement that would establish a legal basis for American troops to remain in Afghanistan after 2014. | The sizable turnout in the Afghan elections to select a successor to President Hamid Karzai initially raised hopes of a smooth political transition. But allegations of fraud in the runoff between the two remaining candidates, Abdullah Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani, have cast a cloud over the political process and delayed the signing of an agreement that would establish a legal basis for American troops to remain in Afghanistan after 2014. |
| “I think this election impasse at the moment is serious and could present a real danger of a division in the country,” Mr. Dobbins said. “It is not unusual for countries at this level of development. They don’t tend to have a tradition of good losers.” | “I think this election impasse at the moment is serious and could present a real danger of a division in the country,” Mr. Dobbins said. “It is not unusual for countries at this level of development. They don’t tend to have a tradition of good losers.” |
| But Mr. Dobbins asserted that Afghanistan was “better positioned” to deal with its political crisis because its religious, linguistic and ethnic tensions were not as sharp as those that once divided Yugoslavia or that now threaten to splinter Iraq. | But Mr. Dobbins asserted that Afghanistan was “better positioned” to deal with its political crisis because its religious, linguistic and ethnic tensions were not as sharp as those that once divided Yugoslavia or that now threaten to splinter Iraq. |
| “But wending our way through this and getting a clear result that everybody acknowledges is legitimate and acceptable is the proximate and probably most important variable for Afghanistan’s future,” said Mr. Dobbins, who added he was “hopeful that it will be brought to a conclusion in the next few weeks.” | “But wending our way through this and getting a clear result that everybody acknowledges is legitimate and acceptable is the proximate and probably most important variable for Afghanistan’s future,” said Mr. Dobbins, who added he was “hopeful that it will be brought to a conclusion in the next few weeks.” |
| During his long career, Mr. Dobbins served as special envoy on Somalia, Haiti and the Balkans. After the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, the Bush administration appointed him as a special envoy for Afghanistan. | During his long career, Mr. Dobbins served as special envoy on Somalia, Haiti and the Balkans. After the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, the Bush administration appointed him as a special envoy for Afghanistan. |
| Mr. Dobbins helped forge the consensus at the Bonn conference in 2001 that settled on Mr. Karzai to serve as Afghanistan’s first president, before leaving the State Department for the Rand Corporation. He had no intention of returning to government until Mr. Kerry called from Paris in the spring of last year to ask him to fill the special envoy post, and he agreed to do it for a year. | |
| “I was just weeks into my time as secretary when Bill Burns, Tom Donilon, and I sat down with the president to think about the right person to lead this effort during what we knew would be a year of big decisions for Afghanistan and Pakistan,” Mr. Kerry said in a statement, referring to William J. Burns, the deputy secretary of state, and Thomas Donlion, Mr. Obama’s former national security adviser. “We quickly decided that Jim Dobbins was the right person if we could lure him out of retirement.” | “I was just weeks into my time as secretary when Bill Burns, Tom Donilon, and I sat down with the president to think about the right person to lead this effort during what we knew would be a year of big decisions for Afghanistan and Pakistan,” Mr. Kerry said in a statement, referring to William J. Burns, the deputy secretary of state, and Thomas Donlion, Mr. Obama’s former national security adviser. “We quickly decided that Jim Dobbins was the right person if we could lure him out of retirement.” |
| At the State Department, the office Mr. Dobbins headed is known as SRAP — the office of the special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan. When the office was run by Richard C. Holbrooke during the early days of the Obama administration, it was intended to be a bureaucratic power that synchronized the diplomatic and nation-building efforts in what President Obama once called a “war of necessity.” | At the State Department, the office Mr. Dobbins headed is known as SRAP — the office of the special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan. When the office was run by Richard C. Holbrooke during the early days of the Obama administration, it was intended to be a bureaucratic power that synchronized the diplomatic and nation-building efforts in what President Obama once called a “war of necessity.” |
| Mr. Holbrooke, however, was often undercut by the White House, and former officials say that the office’s role has changed over time. | Mr. Holbrooke, however, was often undercut by the White House, and former officials say that the office’s role has changed over time. |
| “From the time it was conceived under Holbrooke, SRAP has been transformed as U.S. interests in Afghanistan have waned, and the priority given to Afghanistan has diminished in the White House,” said Vali Nasr, the dean of the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and a former aide to Mr. Holbrooke. | “From the time it was conceived under Holbrooke, SRAP has been transformed as U.S. interests in Afghanistan have waned, and the priority given to Afghanistan has diminished in the White House,” said Vali Nasr, the dean of the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and a former aide to Mr. Holbrooke. |
| “It has gone from trying to manage ambitious policies involving tens of thousands of troops and high-flying diplomacy to managing an exit strategy and managing a certain stability in our relationship with Afghanistan and Pakistan,” Mr. Nasr added. | “It has gone from trying to manage ambitious policies involving tens of thousands of troops and high-flying diplomacy to managing an exit strategy and managing a certain stability in our relationship with Afghanistan and Pakistan,” Mr. Nasr added. |
| With American troops being withdrawn, some have suggested that the office be closed and its staff merged with the State Department’s bureau on the region, but Mr. Kerry signaled in his statement that Mr. Feldman, who will be elevated to the rank of ambassador, “will fill the role of SRAP moving forward.” | With American troops being withdrawn, some have suggested that the office be closed and its staff merged with the State Department’s bureau on the region, but Mr. Kerry signaled in his statement that Mr. Feldman, who will be elevated to the rank of ambassador, “will fill the role of SRAP moving forward.” |
| Mr. Dobbins may write a book to follow the one he did on his time as a special envoy to Kabul during the Bush administration: “After the Taliban: National-Building in Afghanistan.” If he does, there will be much to recount, including the difficult negotiations over a security agreement to keep American troops in Afghanistan after 2014, the miscues last year that led to an abortive effort to explore peace talks with the Taliban, the talks that led to the release of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl and perhaps the deliberations over the administration’s troop exit strategy. | Mr. Dobbins may write a book to follow the one he did on his time as a special envoy to Kabul during the Bush administration: “After the Taliban: National-Building in Afghanistan.” If he does, there will be much to recount, including the difficult negotiations over a security agreement to keep American troops in Afghanistan after 2014, the miscues last year that led to an abortive effort to explore peace talks with the Taliban, the talks that led to the release of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl and perhaps the deliberations over the administration’s troop exit strategy. |
| Mr. Dobbins was somewhat elusive during recent congressional testimony, during which Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, tried to pin him down on whether he endorsed a deadline for withdrawing all American troops by the end of 2016, which is a central feature of Mr. Obama’s plan. | Mr. Dobbins was somewhat elusive during recent congressional testimony, during which Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, tried to pin him down on whether he endorsed a deadline for withdrawing all American troops by the end of 2016, which is a central feature of Mr. Obama’s plan. |
| “My view is, on these kinds of situations, that more is better,” he said. “More time, more money, more troops, more people yields better results. But it has to be made within a broader context.” | “My view is, on these kinds of situations, that more is better,” he said. “More time, more money, more troops, more people yields better results. But it has to be made within a broader context.” |