United States Ambassador to Afghanistan
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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 charge 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 charge d'affaires
- Hawthorne Q. Mills (1980 - 1982) - charge d'affaires
- Archer K. Blood - appointed in 1982, but rejected by Afghanistan government
- Charles F. Dunbar - (1982 - 1983) - charge d'affaires
- Edward Hurwitz (1983 - 1986) - charge d'affaires
- James Maurice Elaum (1986 - ??) - charge d'affaires (-1988?)
- Jon D. Glassman (?? - 1989) charge d'affaires (1988?-) - embassy closed after Soviet Union troop withdrawal and descreased stability
The US government also had a charge d'affaires to the Afgan Northern Alliance government, beginning in 1989.
- Peter Tomsen (1989 - 1992) - charge 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) - charge d'affaires before official ambassador could be chosen
- Robert Finn (2002 - 2003)
- Zalmay Khalilzad (2003 - 2005)
- Ronald E. Neumann (2005 - present)
