New Delhi: Colin Powell, the first African-American US Secretary of State, died on Monday at the age of 84 due to complications from Covid-19. He was undergoing treatment at the Walter Reed National Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.
He was fully vaccinated.
Powell’s family announced the news of his death in a statement posted on Facebook.
General Colin Powell, who had served as US national security adviser under President Ronald Reagan from 1987 to 1989, and chairman of the US military’s Joint Chiefs of Staff under President George H.W. Bush, became the secretary of state to President George W. Bush in 2001.
He served on the post until 2005.
During his four-year tenure as the US secretary of state, Powell visited India four times. The NDA government with Atal Bihari Vajpayee as the prime minister, was in power at the time.
The first visit was in October 2001, a month after the 9/11 terror attacks in the US.
According to a US State Department statement, Powell had been asked by then President Bush to travel to India and Pakistan to discuss their “overall efforts in support the coalition against terrorism”.
He was also told to "further that cooperation" so the process of fighting terrorism could continue over the long haul, as the US acknowledged "strong support" from the country.
Powell subsequently paid three more visits to India and the subcontinent — in January 2002, July 2002, and March 2004.
Here are some of the images of Colin Powell during his visits to India.
Colin Powell with then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in New Delhi in October 2001, during his first visit to India after becoming the US secretary of State | Photo: Getty