Karl Eikenberry

Lieutenant General (ret.) Karl W. Eikenberry
Ambassador Eikenberry at Stanford University in 2011
United States Ambassador to Afghanistan
In office April 29, 2009 – July 25, 2011
President	Barack Obama
Preceded by	William Braucher Wood
Succeeded by	Ryan Crocker
Personal details
Born	(1951-11-10) November 10, 1951
Spouse(s)	Ching Eikenberry
Residence	Winnetka, Illinois
Alma mater	United States Military Academy (B.S.) Harvard University (M.A.) Stanford University (M.A.)
Military service
Nickname(s)	Karl
Allegiance	United States of America
Service/branch	United States Army
Rank	Lieutenant General
Battles/wars	War in Afghanistan

Karl Winfrid Eikenberry (born November 10, 1951) is a retired United States Army lieutenant general who served as the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan from April 2009 to July 2011. He is currently the Oksenberg-Rohlen Distinguished Fellow and Director of the U.S. Asia Security Initiative at the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center. He is also a professor of the practice and is an affiliated faculty member at the FSI Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law (CDDRL), the Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC) and the The Europe Center at Stanford University.

In addition to his work at Stanford, Eikenberry is on the board of The Asia Foundation, the International Institute for Strategic Studies, the National Committee on American Foreign Policy, Carnegie Mellon University’s Center for International Relations and Politics and the Turquoise Mountain Foundation. He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the American Academy of Diplomacy, and the Council of American Ambassadors and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Early life and education

Eikenberry was born in 1951 and graduated from Goldsboro High School in Goldsboro, North Carolina, in 1968. He then attended the United States Military Academy at West Point, where he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant upon graduation in 1973.

He received an M.A. in East Asian Studies from Harvard University, where he would later return as a National Security Fellow at the John F. Kennedy School of Government. He also earned an M.A. in political science from Stanford University. In addition, Eikenberry has studied in Hong Kong at the UK Ministry of Defence Chinese Language School, earning the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office's Interpreter’s Certificate for Mandarin Chinese, and at Nanjing University, earning an advanced degree in Chinese history.

Military career

With US Army Aviation CH-47 crew and Pakistan Army Liaison Officer in Pakistan when commanding the US-led coalition Kashmir earthquake disaster relief operations, October 2005.

In the Army, Eikenberry commanded and held staff positions in airborne, ranger, and mechanized infantry units in the United States, Korea, and Europe. He also served as Assistant Army Attaché and later as the Defense Attaché in the United States Embassy in the People's Republic of China. His other political-military assignments included Senior Country Director for China and Taiwan in the Office of Secretary of Defense, Foreign Area Officer Division Chief and Deputy Director of the Strategy, Plans and Policy Directorate on the Army Staff, and Director of Strategic Planning and Policy Directorate, United States Pacific Command, Camp Smith, Hawaii.

Eikenberry served two tours of duty in the war in Afghanistan. His first tour in Afghanistan, from September 2002 to September 2003, he filled two positions—his primary duty was as the U.S. Security Coordinator for Afghanistan and the second position was the Chief of the Office of Military Cooperation-Afghanistan (OMC-A). As the Security Coordinator he worked closely with Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Afghanistan and Pakistan Lakhdar Brahimi to forge a unified international effort to build a cohesive security sector.

Security sector reform (SSR) followed a lead-nation approach agreed upon in January 2002, in which the G8 nations would each lead a specific sector—the United States was responsible for the Afghan National Army; Germany, the Afghan Police; UK, counter-narcotics; Italy, judicial reform; and Japan and the United Nations took on the task of disarming, demobilizing, and reintegrating the militias. In his role as Chief of the OMC-A he was the chief architect of the strategy that established the new Afghan National Army.

Eikenberry succeeded Lieutenant General David Barno as Commander, Combined Forces Command-Afghanistan, on May 4, 2005. During his second tour from May 2005 to February 2007, he was responsible for transferring operational responsibility for southern and eastern Afghanistan to the NATO International Security Assistance Force and the international training of the Afghan National Army and Police Forces. He also commanded the military task force sent to Pakistan to provide humanitarian assistance and disaster relief in the wake of the October 8th, 2005 Kashmir earthquake. He completed his military career in Brussels, Belgium as the Deputy Chairman of the NATO Military Committee.

Ambassador

Visiting Afghan provincial elders as US ambassador in 2009

On January 29, 2009, the New York Times reported that President Barack Obama had chosen Eikenberry to be the next U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, replacing William Braucher Wood. The choice of a career army officer for the sensitive post was described by The Times as "highly unusual". On April 3, 2009, the Senate confirmed Eikenberry's nomination, and on April 29, 2009, he was sworn in as the U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan. The official announcement of his nomination was made on March 11. Following his confirmation as ambassador, he retired from the U.S. military with the rank of Lieutenant General on April 28, 2009. As the U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan, he led the civilian surge directed by President Obama, overseeing the growth of the embassy staff from 350 to 1400 civilian personnel from eighteen United States Government departments and agencies, and the administration of bilateral development assistance budget of over $4 billion USD annually.

Leak of classified cables

In November 2009, Eikenberry sent two classified cables to his superiors in which he assessed the proposed U.S. strategy in Afghanistan. A description of the content of the cables was leaked soon after. In January 2010, the New York Times obtained and published the cables, which "show just how strongly the current ambassador feels about President Hamid Karzai and the Afghan government, the state of its military, and the chances that a troop buildup will actually hurt the war effort by making the Karzai government too dependent on the United States". In June 2010, General McChrystal was described in a Rolling Stone profile as feeling blindsided by Eikenberry's statements in the leaked cables. On the other hand, Eikenberry is described elsewhere as being frank and vocal about his concerns about the Karzai government as being an unreliable partner for the United States in its efforts in Afghanistan.

Career at Stanford University

After his position as ambassador in Afghanistan, in September 2011 Eikenberry became the Payne Distinguished Lecturer at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University and subsequently the William J. Perry Fellow in International Security at the Center for International Security and Cooperation. While at Stanford University, Eikenberry has joined the faculty of the Ford Dorsey Program in International Policy Studies, served as a member of the Academy of Arts and Sciences congressionally mandated Commission on the Humanities and Social Sciences, acted as a consultant for NATO and the RAND Corporation, and lectured and written on civil-military relations, U.S. Asia-Pacific strategy and Sino American relations, counter-insurgency and state-building strategies, and the contribution of the arts and humanities to America’s international competitiveness.

Awards and decorations

Personal decorations and badges

Eikenberry's personal decorations include:

U.S. military decorations Defense Distinguished Service Medal (with OLC) Defense Superior Service Medal (with OLC) Legion of Merit (with OLC) Bronze Star Defense Meritorious Service Medal (with OLC) Meritorious Service Medal (with 5 OLC) Joint Service Commendation Medal Army Commendation Medal (with 4 OLC) Army Achievement Medal (with OLC) U.S. unit awards Joint Meritorious Unit Award (with 2 OLC) Army Superior Unit Award (with OLC) U.S. non-military decorations State Department Distinguished Honor Award State Department Superior Honor Award State Department Meritorious Honor Award Director of Central Intelligence Award Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Joint Distinguished Civilian Service Award U.S. service (campaign) medals and service and training ribbons National Defense Service Medal (with 2 Service Stars) Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal (with 2 Service Stars) Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal Afghanistan Campaign Medal Global War on Terrorism Service Medal Korea Defense Service Medal Humanitarian Service Medal Army Service Ribbon Army Overseas Service Ribbon (with award numeral 13)

U.S. badges, patches and tabs Combat Infantryman Badge Expert Infantryman Badge Master Parachutist Badge (United States) Office of the Secretary of Defense Identification Badge Army Staff Identification Badge Ranger Tab Combined Forces Command - Afghanistan Shoulder Sleeve Insignia (United States Army) – Former War Time Service (SSI-FWTS). 5 Overseas Service Bars

Non-U.S. service medals and ribbons

• NATO Medal for Former Yugoslavia

Foreign military and civil decorations

• Meritorious Service Cross (M.S.C.) Canada
• Cross of Merit of the Minister of Defence of the Czech Republic, First Class
• Alliance Medal (Hungary)
• French Officer Order of the Legion of Honor
• State Medal of Ghazi Amir Amanullah Khan (Afghanistan)
• State Medal of Ghazi Wazir Mohammad Akbar Khan (Afghanistan)

Foreign badges

• German Parachutist Badge in bronze (German: Fallschirmspringerabzeichen)

Academic Awards

Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Centennial Medal

Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters Degree, North Carolina State University

Other

George F. Kennan Award for Distinguished Public Service

State of North Carolina Order of the Long Leaf Pine Award

Goldsboro High School Athletic Hall of Fame

In August 2007 Eikenberry was given the key to the city of Goldsboro, North Carolina by the mayor.

External links

• Karl Eikenberry at Stanford, including his publications
• The Runaway General:Stanley McChrystal, Obama's top commander in Afghanistan, Rolling Stone (June 22, 2010)
• Former general talks on U.S., war The Tartan, Carnegie Mellon University, September 13, 2013.
• Eikenberry and Michael McFaul on Foreign Policy, Stanford University, November 11, 2014.
• Appearances on C-SPAN

Interviews

• Interview with Asia Source (May 2, 2006)
• Interview with NPR (February 13, 2007)
• Afghanistan: A Campaign Assessment at Harvard Institute of Politics (March 20, 2007)
• Interview at the 25th Anniversary Chicago Humanities Festival (November 8, 2014).

Military offices
Preceded by David Barno	Commander, Combined Forces Command - Afghanistan 2005–2007	Succeeded by David D. McKiernan
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by William Braucher Wood	U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan 2009–2011	Succeeded by Ryan Crocker