Name Karl Eikenberry | Nickname(s) Karl Spouse Ching Eikenberry Role Political figure | |
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Born November 10, 1951 (age 73) ( 1951-11-10 ) Allegiance United States of America Books Explaining and Influencing Chinese Arms Transfers Similar People | ||
Battles and wars War in Afghanistan | ||
Interview with Karl Eikenberry
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 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, the Center for International Security and Cooperation and The Europe Center at Stanford University.
Contents
- Interview with Karl Eikenberry
- Force and diplomacy with karl eikenberry conversations with history
- Early life and education
- Military career
- Ambassador
- Leak of classified cables
- Career at Stanford University
- Writings
- Personal decorations and badges
- Non US service medals and ribbons
- Foreign military and civil decorations
- Foreign badges
- Academic Awards
- Other
- References
In addition to his work at Stanford, Eikenberry is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences where he co-directs the Academy's multiyear project on civil wars, violence, and international responses, and is a member of the Academy's Commission on Language Learning. He serves on the board of The Asia Foundation, the International Institute for Strategic Studies, the American Council of Learned Societies, American Councils for International Education, the National Committee on American Foreign Policy, and Carnegie Mellon University’s Center for International Relations and Politics. He also is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the American Academy of Diplomacy, and the Council of American Ambassadors.
Force and diplomacy with karl eikenberry conversations with history
Early life and education
Eikenberry was born in 1951 and graduated from Goldsboro High School in Goldsboro, North Carolina, in 1969. 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
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
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.
Writings
Personal decorations and badges
Eikenberry's personal decorations include:
Non-U.S. service medals and ribbons
Foreign military and civil decorations
Foreign badges
Academic Awards
Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Centennial Medal
Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters Degree, North Carolina State University
Honorary Doctorate of Laws Degree, Ball State University
Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters Degree, University of San Francisco
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.