TO WHITE HOUSE -- 11 DAYS

Washington, Jan. 8: Hillary Rodham Clinton is likely to name Richard C. Holbrooke, a longtime diplomat who brokered the Dayton accord that brought peace to Bosnia, as a special envoy to Pakistan and India, said people who have been told of the decision.

Holbrooke did not reply to requests for comment.

Holbrooke is a top-ranking US diplomat who has held the assistant secretary of state position for two different regions of the world (Asia from 1977-81 and Europe and from 1994-96). He has also been nominated for the Nobel Peace prize seven times.

Clinton, who awaits Senate confirmation as secretary of state, is in the process of filling out the senior echelon of the state department, and keeping a respected career diplomat in one of the agency’s most influential posts.

The diplomat, William J. Burns, is to stay on as the under secretary for political affairs, according to people informed of the decision. The unusual move has been popular within the diplomatic ranks, where Burns, a former ambassador to Russia and Jordan, is close to a revered figure.

Clinton is also expected to name Kurt M. Campbell as assistant secretary for East Asian affairs — a challenging post that has involved negotiating with North Korea on its nuclear programme, though that task will now shift to other officials. Wendy R. Sherman, another incoming official, has long experience with North Korea, but it is unclear whether she will be involved this time.

Campbell, a seasoned Asia hand, was a defence official in Bill Clinton’s administration. Sherman, a prominent figure in Democratic Party circles, advised Clinton on North Korea and has helped run the state department transition for President-elect Barack Obama.

As Clinton prepares for her Senate hearing on Tuesday, she is also closing in on naming special emissaries to trouble spots in West Asia, Iran and South Asia, several people said.

Dennis B. Ross, a veteran of West Asia peace negotiations in the Clinton and the first Bush administrations, is set to take over a portfolio focused on Iran, officials said. His job would not be called special envoy, given the lack of diplomatic ties between the US and Iran.

Still, the appointment would be particularly significant, foreign policy analysts said, because it would underline Obama’s resolve to begin engaging diplomatically with Tehran. “Iran sits at the nexus of everything we care about; it is the single biggest foreign policy issue this administration will confront,” said Aaron David Miller, a West Asia expert at the Woodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholars. “This relationship is not going to come around quickly.”

With the deepening crisis in Gaza, Clinton may also name a special envoy for Arab-Israeli issues. Richard N. Haass, a former state department official in the Bush administration, and Daniel C. Kurtzer, who served as US ambassador to Israel and Egypt, have both been mentioned.

Haass, who is the president of the Council on Foreign Relations, said he was flattered by the attention but had not been approached, according to his spokeswoman. Ross and Kurtzer declined to comment.

New York Times News Service