The scandal broke in January when the Italian journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi broadcast letters from the former number-two Vatican administrator, Monsignor Carlo Maria Viganò, to the pope.
The World Service said he had decided to sign off on the advice of his doctors, and that they would broadcast letters from the Cooke archives for several more weeks.
His weekly 15-minute program, Letter from America, broadcast from 1946 to 2004, was one of the longest-running series on radio.
Lieutenant Colonel Charlie Mayo, spokesman for the UK taskforce, said: "Prior to the operation we informed the local population of our intentions through the governor of Helmand and also by means of radio broadcasts, letters and word of mouth.
Good evening... Alistair Cooke broadcasts a letter in 1946Photograph: Corbis The British like to write about America.
"We ask you, as two of the appointers of the Committee, to ensure that all meetings and hearings are done in a transparent manner through advanced public notification, public attendance and live television broadcasts," the letter reads.
In 1953, Hovey took leave from Wisconsin to accept a two-year Fulbright grant to Italy, where he was accredited to Radiotelevisione Italiana and broadcast a weekly "Letter from Italy" for member stations of the National Association of Educational Broadcasters, a forerunner of National Public Radio.
He worked simultaneously for the BBC and broadcast his first "Letter From America" on March 24 , 1946
In a letter broadcast today, Mr. Rafsanjani announced his withdrawal from the slate of legislators elected on Feb. 18. "I appreciate those who voted for me and I respect those who did not," the letter quoted him as saying.
