US defense secretary: World lost ‘great leader’ in Colin Powell

Former US secretary of state Colin Powell listens to a question from a reporter outside the front doors of the State Department  in Washington, DC, on September 8, 2003. (Tim SLOAN / AFP / File)
Former US secretary of state Colin Powell listens to a question from a reporter outside the front doors of the State Department in Washington, DC, on September 8, 2003. (Tim SLOAN / AFP / File)

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin pays tribute to Colin Powell, saying the world had lost “one of the greatest leaders we have ever witnessed.”

“The first African-American chairman of the joint chiefs, the first African-American secretary of state…. a man who was respected around the globe,” says Austin, who is the first African-American defense secretary.

“It will be quite frankly not possible to replace Colin Powell,” Austin says during a visit to the Georgian capital Tbilisi.

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