‘Proxy’ diplomats deployed for crises

If President Clinton was known for political triangulation, his wife is establishing herself as the quarterback of a multidirectional diplomatic offense.

Sen. John Kerry’s dramatic insertion into talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai last week marked the third time the Obama administration has used proxy diplomats to resolve major foreign crises.

While critics of the approach say it is undermining Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and regular diplomatic channels, Mr. Kerry and State Department officials say that the secretary fully supported the senator’s unusual role.

Mrs. Clinton even called Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat, on Monday to make sure it was OK for Mr. Kerry to miss a few important votes to secure Mr. Karzai’s consent to a runoff election to settle an August vote tainted by fraud.

The mission by Mr. Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, followed high-profile diplomacy by another committee member, Jim Webb, Virginia Democrat, and by Mr. Clinton.

“Secretary Clinton has … talked about expanding the diplomatic tools in the toolbox,” said P.J. Crowley, assistant secretary of state for public affairs. “What is most significant - if you focus on the examples of Senator Kerry and Senator Webb - it is the case of having the United States communicate through a variety of channels, but with a consistent message, and that’s very important.”

Mr. Webb in August went to Myanmar, where he met with political dissident Aung San Suu Kyi and Gen. Than Shwe, the head of the military junta that is keeping her under house arrest. While Mrs. Suu Kyi remains a prisoner, Mr. Webb won the release of an American detainee, John Yettaw.

Coming a few days after Mr. Clinton’s trip to North Korea, where he secured freedom for two American journalists, Mr. Webb’s trip also became a big story.

Mr. Webb’s staff said much of the reporting inaccurately portrayed his trip as a renegade mission.

“He had a number of conversations with Secretary Clinton both before and after the trip,” said Webb spokeswoman Jessica Smith.

The three missions had differing elements. Mr. Clinton’s trip, for example, came at the request of the journalists’ families and his former vice president, Al Gore, the reporters’ employer. That it also had the effect of breaking the ice with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il was an added bonus for those who advocate engagement with difficult regimes.

To supporters, the Obama administration’s use of proxies demonstrates a highly pragmatic approach to foreign policy. To critics, it is a short-term strategy that may undermine Mrs. Clinton and her regular diplomats, confuse U.S. allies and embolden the nation’s enemies.

Mr. Kerry’s sudden elevation to such a crucial role in the region now at the center of U.S. foreign-policy attention raised questions, not only about Mrs. Clinton’s role, but that of Richard C. Holbrooke, the administration’s special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan.

“The secretary of state herself is undermined by a very wide array of special envoys and special advisers,” said Nile Gardiner, a foreign-policy analyst at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative Washington think tank.

With Mr. Kerry’s star turn, Mr. Gardiner said, “You even have the extraordinary situation of a special envoy being undermined by a special adviser.”

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