United States Ambassador To Afghanistan - Ambassadors and Chiefs of Mission

Ambassadors and Chiefs of Mission

  • William H. Hornibrook – Political appointee
    • Title: Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary
    • Appointed: January 22, 1935
    • Presented credentials: May 4, 1935
    • Terminated mission: Left Tehran March 16, 1936

Note: The names of the chargés heading the Afghanistan mission between Hornibrook’s departure in 1936 and the arrival of Dreyfus in 1941 have not been recorded.

  • Louis G. Dreyfus, Jr. – Career FSO
    • Title: Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary
    • Appointed: February 16, 1940
    • Presented credentials: May 19, 1941
    • Terminated mission: Superseded by establishment of legation in Kabul, July 25, 1942

Note: Legation Kabul was opened June 6, 1942 with Charles W. Thayer as Chargé d’Affaires ad interim.

  • Cornelius Van Hemert Engert – Career FSO
    • Title: Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary
    • Appointed: May 2, 1942
    • Presented credentials: July 2, 1942
    • Terminated mission: Left post August 17, 1945
  • Ely E. Palmer – Career FSO
    • Title: Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary
    • Appointed: February 9, 1945
    • Presented credentials: December 6, 1945
    • Terminated mission: Promoted to Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary

Note: During Palmer’s tenure as envoy, the Legation was elevated to Embassy status on June 5, 1948, when Palmer presented his credentials to the Afghan government.

  • Ely E. Palmer – Career FSO
    • Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
    • Appointed: May 6, 1948
    • Presented credentials: June 5, 1948
    • Terminated mission: Left post November 18, 1948
  • Louis G. Dreyfus, Jr. – Career FSO
    • Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
    • Appointed: April 21, 1949
    • Presented credentials: August 16, 1949
    • Terminated mission: Left post January 19, 1951
  • George Robert Merrell – Career FSO
    • Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
    • Appointed: April 19, 1951
    • Presented credentials: June 28, 1951
    • Terminated mission: Left post May 3, 1952
  • Angus I. Ward – Career FSO
    • Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
    • Appointed: June 27, 1952
    • Presented credentials: November 8, 1952
    • Terminated mission: Left post March 3, 1956
  • Sheldon T. Mills – Career FSO
    • Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
    • Appointed: March 28, 1956
    • Presented credentials: May 6, 1956
    • Terminated mission: Left post February 3, 1959
  • Henry A. Byroade – Career FSO
    • Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
    • Appointed: January 29, 1959
    • Presented credentials: March 21, 1959
    • Terminated mission: Left post January 19, 1962
  • John M. Steeves – Career FSO
    • Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
    • Appointed: February 7, 1962
    • Presented credentials: March 20, 1962
    • Terminated mission: Left post July 21, 1966
  • Robert G. Neumann – Political appointee
    • Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
    • Appointed: November 3, 1966
    • Presented credentials: February 19, 1967
    • Terminated mission: Left post September 10, 1973
  • Theodore L. Eliot, Jr. – Career FSO
    • Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
    • Appointed: September 20, 1973
    • Presented credentials: November 21, 1973
    • Terminated mission: Left post June 14, 1978
  • Adolph Dubs – Career FSO
    • Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
    • Appointed: June 27, 1978
    • Presented credentials: July 12, 1978
    • Terminated mission: Assassinated at post February 14, 1979
  • J. Bruce Amstutz – Career FSO
    • Title: Chargé d’Affaires a.i.
    • February 1979–February 1980
  • Hawthorne Q. Mills – Career FSO
    • Title: Chargé d’Affaires a.i.
    • February 1980–January 1982
  • Archer K. Blood – Career FSO
    • Title: Chargé d’Affaires a.i.
    • Nomination rejected by the Afghan government
  • Charles F. Dunbar – Career FSO
    • Title: Chargé d’Affaires a.i.
    • 1982–1983
  • Edward Hurwitz – Career FSO
    • Title: Chargé d’Affaires a.i.
    • 1983–1986
  • James Maurice Ealum
    • Title: Chargé d’Affaires a.i.
    • March 1986–September 1987
  • Jon D. Glassman
    • Title: Chargé d’Affaires a.i.
    • 1987–1989

Note: Peter Tomsen served as Special Envoy to Afghanistan (to the Northern Alliance) 1989–1992.

Note: The U.S. Embassy Kabul was closed in January 1989. The Embassy was reopened January 17, 2002.

  • James F. Dobbins – Career FSO
    • Title: Ambassador (in charge of reestablishing U.S. Embassy)
    • Served: December 2001–January 2002
  • Ryan Crocker – Career FSO
    • Title: Chargé d’Affaires a.i.
    • Appointed: January 17, 2002
    • Presented credentials: Unknown
    • Terminated mission: April 3, 2002
  • Robert Finn – Career FSO
    • Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
    • Appointed: March 21, 2002
    • Presented credentials: April 3, 2002
    • Terminated mission: Left post August 1, 2003
  • Zalmay Khalilzad – Political appointee
    • Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
    • Appointed: November 17, 2003
    • Presented credentials: November 28, 2003
    • Terminated mission: Left post June 20, 2005
  • Ronald E. Neumann – Career FSO
    • Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
    • Appointed: June 27, 2005
    • Presented credentials: August 1, 2005
    • Terminated mission: Left post April 10, 2007
  • William Braucher Wood – Career FSO
    • Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
    • Appointed: March 28, 2007
    • Presented credentials: April 16, 2007
    • Terminated mission: c. March 2009
  • Karl Eikenberry – Political appointee
    • Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
    • Appointed: April 3, 2009
    • Presented credentials: Unknown
    • Terminated mission: July 25, 2011
  • Ryan Crocker – Career FSO
    • Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
    • Appointed: July 7, 2009
    • Presented credentials: July 25, 2011
    • Terminated mission: July 13, 2012
  • James B. Cunningham
    • Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
    • Appointed: August 2012, Sworn in as ambassador August 12, 2012.
    • Presented credentials: August 13, 2012
    • Terminated mission: Incumbent


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