| Name
|
Title
|
Appointed
|
Presented credentials
|
Terminated mission
|
Notes
|
| William H. Hornibrook – Political appointee[2] |
Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary
|
January 22, 1935
|
May 4, 1935
|
Left Tehran March 16, 1936
|
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[2] |
Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary
|
February 16, 1940
|
May 19, 1941
|
Superseded by establishment of legation in Kabul, July 25, 1942
|
Legation Kabul was opened June 6, 1942 with Charles W. Thayer as Chargé d’Affaires ad interim.
|
| Cornelius Van Hemert Engert – Career FSO
|
Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary
|
May 2, 1942
|
July 2, 1942
|
Left post August 17, 1945
|
|
| Ely Palmer – Career FSO
|
Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary
|
February 9, 1945
|
December 6, 1945
|
Promoted to Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
|
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 Palmer – Career FSO
|
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
|
May 6, 1948
|
June 5, 1948
|
Left post November 18, 1948
|
|
| Louis G. Dreyfus, Jr. – Career FSO
|
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
|
April 21, 1949
|
August 16, 1949
|
Left post January 19, 1951
|
|
| George Robert Merrell – Career FSO
|
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
|
April 19, 1951
|
June 28, 1951
|
Left post May 3, 1952
|
|
| Angus I. Ward – Career FSO
|
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
|
June 27, 1952
|
November 8, 1952
|
Left post March 3, 1956
|
|
| Sheldon T. Mills – Career FSO
|
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
|
March 28, 1956
|
May 6, 1956
|
Left post February 3, 1959
|
|
| Henry A. Byroade – Career FSO
|
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
|
January 29, 1959
|
March 21, 1959
|
Left post January 19, 1962
|
|
| John M. Steeves – Career FSO
|
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
|
February 7, 1962
|
March 20, 1962
|
Left post July 21, 1966
|
|
| Robert G. Neumann – Political appointee
|
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
|
November 3, 1966
|
February 19, 1967
|
Left post September 10, 1973
|
|
| Theodore L. Eliot, Jr. – Career FSO
|
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
|
September 20, 1973
|
November 21, 1973
|
Left post June 14, 1978
|
|
| Adolph Dubs – Career FSO
|
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
|
June 27, 1978
|
July 12, 1978
|
Assassinated at post February 14, 1979
|
|
| J. Bruce Amstutz – Career FSO
|
Chargé d’Affaires a.i.
|
|
February 14, 1979
|
February 1980
|
|
| Hawthorne Q. Mills – Career FSO
|
Chargé d’Affaires a.i.
|
|
February 1980
|
January 1982
|
|
| Charles Franklin Dunbar – Career FSO
|
Chargé d’Affaires a.i.
|
|
January 1982
|
June 1983
|
|
| Edward Hurwitz – Career FSO
|
Chargé d’Affaires a.i.
|
|
June 1983
|
March 1986
|
|
| James Maurice Ealum
|
Chargé d’Affaires a.i.
|
|
March 1986
|
September 1987
|
|
| Jon D. Glassman
|
Chargé d’Affaires a.i.
|
|
September 1987
|
January 30, 1989
|
|
| Peter Tomsen served as Special Envoy to Afghanistan (to the Northern Alliance) 1989–1992. The U.S. Embassy Kabul was closed in January 1989. The Embassy was reopened January 17, 2002.[1] |
| James F. Dobbins – Career FSO
|
Ambassador (in charge of reestablishing U.S. Embassy)
|
|
December 17, 2001
|
January 2, 2002
|
| Ryan Crocker – Career FSO
|
Chargé d’Affaires a.i.
|
January 2, 2002[3] |
Unknown
|
April 3, 2002
|
|
| Robert Finn – Career FSO
|
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
|
March 21, 2002
|
April 3, 2002
|
Left post August 1, 2004
|
|
| Zalmay Khalilzad – Political appointee
|
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
|
August 17, 2004
|
September 28, 2004
|
Left post June 20, 2005
|
|
| Ronald E. Neumann – Career FSO
|
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
|
June 27, 2005
|
August 1, 2005
|
Left post April 10, 2007
|
|
| William Braucher Wood – Career FSO
|
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
|
March 28, 2007
|
April 16, 2007
|
April 9, 2009
|
|
| Karl Eikenberry – Political appointee
|
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
|
April 3, 2009
|
May 21, 2009
|
July 25, 2011
|
|
| Ryan Crocker – Career FSO[4][5] |
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
|
July 7, 2011[6] |
July 25, 2011[7] |
July 13, 2012
|
|
| James B. Cunningham – Career FSO
|
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
|
August 2012, Sworn in as ambassador August 12, 2012.
|
August 13, 2012[8] |
December 7, 2014
|
|
| P. Michael McKinley – Career FSO[9] |
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
|
December 2014
|
January 6, 2015[10] |
December 18, 2016
|
|
| Hugo Llorens
|
Career Ambassador and Special Chargé d’Affaires
|
|
December 19, 2016
|
November 17, 2017
|
|
| John R. Bass
|
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
|
September 28, 2017
|
December 12, 2017
|
January 6, 2020[11] |
|
| Ross Wilson
|
Chargé d’Affaires[12] |
January 18, 2020
|
|
August 31, 2021
|
| The U.S. Embassy in Kabul transferred operations to Doha, Qatar, on August 31, 2021, following the fall of Kabul to the Taliban.[13][14] Since December 31, the U.S. Interests Section at the Embassy of Qatar in Kabul has served as the protecting power for the U.S. in Afghanistan.[15] |
| Ian McCary
|
Chargé d’Affaires
|
August 31, 2021[16][17][18] |
|
July 31, 2022
|
| Karen B. Decker
|
Chargé d’Affaires
|
August 1, 2022[19] |
|
Incumbent
|
|
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