# 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. From 2011 to 2019, he was the director of the U.S. Asia Security Initiative at the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center and a Stanford University professor of the practice; a member of the core faculty at the Center for International Security and Cooperation; and an affiliated faculty member at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law, and the Europe Center.
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 a member of the academy's Committee of International Security Studies. He serves on the board of the Asia Foundation, American Councils for International Education, the Asia Society of Northern California, Academic Exchange, and the National Committee on American Foreign Policy. He is a faculty member of Schwarzman College, Tsinghua University in Beijing, and a member of the Working Group on Science and Technology and U.S.-China Relations organized by the UC San Diego 21st Century China Center and the Asia Society's Center on U.S.-China Relations. Additionally, Eikenberry is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the American Academy of Diplomacy, and the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

## Early life and education

Eikenberry was born in 1951 in Hammond, Indiana 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 MA 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 MA 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 at the United States embassy in Beijing, 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.
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.

## U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan

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 ambassador, he led the civilian surge directed by President Obama, overseeing the growth of the embassy staff from 350 to 1,400 civilian personnel from eighteen United States government departments and agencies, and the administration of bilateral development assistance budget of over US$4 billion 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

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 joined the faculty of the Ford Dorsey Program in International Policy Studies, served as a member of the American 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. He was elected to be a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2012.

## Writings

* Eikenberry, Karl W. (February 1988). "The Imjin War" (PDF). Military Review. 68 (2): 27–82.
* Eikenberry, Karl W. (1994). "The campaigns of Cao Cao". Military Review. 74 (8): 56–64.
* Eikenberry, Karl W. (February 1995). Explaining and Influencing Chinese Arms Transfers. McNair Papers. Washington, D.C.: Institute for National Strategic Studies, National Defense University. Archived from the original on 2009-01-09. Retrieved 2009-02-01.
* Eikenberry, Karl W. (Summer 1996). "Take No Casualties". Parameters. 26 (2): 109–118. Archived from the original on June 9, 2007.
* Eikenberry, Karl W. (November 2009). "Ambassador Eikenberry's Cables on U.S. Strategy in Afghanistan". New York Times.
* Eikenberry, Karl W. (May 2012). "Stop Ignoring Taiwan". Foreign Policy.
* Eikenberry, Karl W.; Hennessy, John L.; Sheehan, James J.; Kennedy, David M.; Perry, William J. (Spring 2012). "The Future of the American Military" (PDF). American Academy of Arts & Sciences: Bulletin. 65 (3).
* Eikenberry, Karl W. (January 2013). "The Militarization of US Foreign Policy" (PDF). American Foreign Policy Interests. 35: 1–8. doi:10.1080/10803920.2013.757952. S2CID 154672685.
* Eikenberry, Karl W.; Kennedy, David M. (May 26, 2013). "Americans and Their Military, Drifting Apart". New York Times.
* Eikenberry, Karl W. (September 2013). "The Limits of Counterinsurgency Doctrine in Afghanistan". Foreign Affairs. 92 (5).
* Eikenberry, Karl W. (December 2013). "Reassessing The All-Volunteer Force". The Washington Quarterly. 36: 7–24. doi:10.1080/0163660x.2013.751647. S2CID 153668204.
* Eikenberry, Karl W. (June 2014). "The American Calculus of Military Intervention". Survival: Global Politics and Strategy. 56 (3) (3 ed.): 264–271. doi:10.1080/00396338.2014.920157. S2CID 154842453.
* Fukuyama, Francis; Eikenberry, Karl W. (September 2014). "Friendless Obama needs Middle Eastern allies of convenience". Financial Times.
* Eikenberry, Karl W. (2014). "Thucydides Trap". American Review: Global Perspectives on America. Archived from the original on 2014-11-06. Retrieved 2014-11-06.
* Eikenberry, Karl W. (June 2015). "China's Place in U.S. Foreign Policy". The American Interest. 10 (6).
* Eikenberry, Karl W. (Fall 2017). "Civil Wars and Global Disorder: Threats and Opportunities" (PDF). Daedalus. 146 (4).

## Awards and decorations
### Personal decorations and badges

Eikenberry's personal decorations include:
U.S. military decorations :
| | Defense Distinguished Service Medal (with 3 OLC) |
| | Defense Superior Service Medal (with 2 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) |
| | Afghanistan Campaign Medal |
| | Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal |
| | Global War on Terrorism Service Medal |
| | Korea Defense Service Medal |
| | Humanitarian Service Medal |
| | Army Service Ribbon |
| | Army Overseas Service Ribbon (with bronze award numeral 4) |
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 silver (German: Fallschirmspringerabzeichen)

### 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.
In November 2018, Eikenberry was the Keynote Speaker at the Stanford Model United Nations Conference.