Iconic US diplomat Henry Kissinger dies at 100

KABUL (Pajhwok): Former US secretary of state and national security advisor Henry Kissinger has died at 100, CNN reported on Thursday.

The iconic US foreign policy figure passed away on Wednesday at his home in Connecticut, Kissinger Associates said, without giving the cause of his death.

A Harvard University faculty member, Kissinger and Vietnamese politician Le Duc Tho had inked the Paris Peace Accords in 1973. The two were later awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, but Tho declined to accept it.

He won a Nobel Peace Prize for his role in ending US military involvement in the Vietnam War. He also helped President Richard Nixon in bringing China closer to the United States and the West in the early 1970s.

His shuttle diplomacy saw Israeli and Arab forces separating after the fallout of the 1973 Yom Kippur War. His approach to US-Soviet ties helped defuse tensions and led to arms control agreements between the two sides.

According to AFP, reviled in much of the world, Kissinger enjoyed the respect even of the rival Democratic Party, with Secretary of State Antony Blinken attending his 100th birthday party.

On the renowned diplomat’s death, ex-president George W. Bush said: “America has lost one of the most dependable and distinctive voices on foreign affairs with the passing of Henry Kissinger.”

PAN Monitor/mud

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