The State Department says Richard Holbrooke, the president's special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, is in critical condition at a Washington hospital after surgery to repair a tear in his aorta.

Department spokesman P.J. Crowley says the surgery at George Washington University Hospital was completed Saturday morning on the 69-year-old Holbrooke and that his family is with him.

A department official says Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton visited the hospital on Friday night and again Saturday.

Holbrooke was named to his post by President Barack Obama early in his administration.The veteran diplomat is perhaps best known for helping broker the 1995 agreement that ended the war in Bosnia.