page_title: Karl Eikenberry
section_title: Military career
hierarchical_section_title: Karl Eikenberry / Military career
caption_attribution_description: English: 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, September 2005.
context_page_description: Karl Winfrid Eikenberry 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.
context_section_description: 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 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. 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.
caption: 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.
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