Karl Eikenberry

Karl Eikenberry is the U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan, starting 29 April 2009. On the previous day, he retired from the United States Army with the rank of lieutenant general, having been the Deputy Chairman of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Military Committee in Brussels, Belgium. He retired from the U.S. military with the rank of Lieutenant General on April 28, 2009.

He is a diplomat and soldier. While on active military service, he was the Foreign Area Officer Association and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the International Institute for Strategic Studird. He served in command and staff assignments with all types of infantry units in the United States, Hawaii, Korea and Italy.

In politicomilitary roles, he was Director for Strategic Planning and Policy for United States Pacific Command; U.S. Security Coordinator and Chief of the Office of Military Cooperation in Kabul, Afghanistan; Army and Defense Attache to China; Senior Country Director for China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Mongolia in the Office of the United States Secretary of Defense; and Deputy Director for Strategy, Plans, and Policy on the Army Staff.

Education and recognitions
He is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy, has master’s degrees from Harvard University in East Asian Studies and Stanford University in Political Science, and was a National Security Fellow at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. He earned an Interpreter’s Certificate in Mandarin Chinese from the British Foreign Commonwealth Office while studying at the United Kingdom Ministry of Defense Chinese Language School in Hong Kong and he has an Advanced Degree in Chinese History from Nanjing University in the People’s Republic of China.

His military awards and decorations include the Defense Distinguished and Superior Service Medals, Legion of Merit, Bronze Star, Ranger Tab, Combat and Expert Infantryman badges, and master parachutist wings. He has received the Department of State Meritorious and Superior Honor Awards, Director of Central Intelligence Award, Canadian Meritorious Service Cross, Czech Republic Meritorious Cross, Hungarian Alliance Medal, French Legion of Honor, and Afghanistan’s Ghazi Amir Amanullah Khan and Akbar Khan Medals.