United States Ambassador to Afghanistan

This is a list of United States ambassadors to Afghanistan. Prior to 1948, Afghanistan was not considered important enough to have a full ambassador, so a Minister Plenipotentiary was sent instead. From 1979 to 1989, Afghanistan did not have an official ambassador and was instead served by a lower-ranking chargé d’affaires. From 1981 to 2002, there was no official embassy in Kabul due to internal security problems eventually including the Taliban government.

*William H. Hornibrook (1935–1936) - Minister Plenipotentiary
*Louis G. Dreyfus, Jr. (1940–1942) - Minister Plenipotentiary
*Cornelius Van Hemert Engert (1942–1945) - Minister Plenipotentiary
*Ely E. Palmer (1945–1948) - Minister Plenipotentiary
*Louis G. Dreyfus, Jr. (1949–1951) - "First formal ambassador"
*George Robert Merrell (1951–1952)
*Angus I. Ward (1952–1956)
*Sheldon T. Mills (1956–1959)
*Henry A. Byroade (1959–1962)
*John M. Steeves (1962–1966)
*Robert G. Neumann (1966–1973)
*Theodore L. Eliot, Jr. (1973–1978)
*Adolph Dubs (1978–1979) - "Killed while in office."

Following the death of Mr. Dubs, there were no formal Ambassadors from the United States until after the War in Afghanistan.

*J. Bruce Amstutz (1979–1980) - "US Deputy Chief of Mission, then chargé d’affaires"
*Hawthorne Q. Mills (1980–1982) - "chargé d’affaires"
*Archer K. Blood - "appointed in 1982, but rejected by Afghanistan government"
*Charles F. Dunbar - (1982–1983) - "chargé d’affaires"
*Edward Hurwitz (1983–1986) - "chargé d’affaires"
*James Maurice Ealum (1986–1987) - "chargé d’affaires"
*Jon D. Glassman (1987–1989) "chargé d’affaires" - embassy closed after Soviet Union troop withdrawal"

The US government also had a chargé d’affaires to the Afgan Northern Alliance government, beginning in 1989.

*Peter Tomsen (1989–1992) - "chargé d’affaires to Northern Alliance, new post"

Post-war ambassadors:

*James F. Dobbins (2001) - "Special US Ambassador to oversee reopening of embassy, not official ambassador"
*Ryan C. Crocker (2001-2002) - "chargé d’affaires before official ambassador could be chosen"
*Robert Finn (2002–2003)
*Zalmay Khalilzad (2003–2005)
*Ronald E. Neumann (2005–2007)
*William B. Wood (2007-present)

ee also

*United States-Afghanistan relations