Thedeath of Richard Holbrooke, President Obama’s special envoy, comes just days before a crucial review of America’s strategy in Afghanistan and Pakistan that had immersed the diplomat in often heated debates with other administration officials during the last days of his life. Holbrooke, 69, didn’t hide the fact that he disagreed with some key elements of the U.S. Afghan war policy. Still, while his voice will be missed in the upcoming strategy debate, his death will have minimal effect on the war effort in Afghanistan, South Asia experts said. “I do not think it will have much of an effect on the momentum of events in Afghanistan,” said Arturo Munoz, a senior political scientist at RAND, a nonprofit think tank based in Washington. “Although he tried to fulfill his mission with his usual vigor and decisiveness, by the time of his death, the situation had changed fundamentally and I do not think he was a key player anymore.”

His death came at a time when Afghanistan is beginning to reap the progress of his early diplomatic efforts, but with a whole new set of problems looming, said Lisa Curtis, senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation and South Asia specialist.