Karl Eikenberry is a Distinguished Fellow at the Stimson Center; senior advisor to the United States Institute of Peace; and Johnson & Johnson visiting faculty chair in leadership at Schwarzman College, a global affairs master’s program at China’s Tsinghua University. His almost four decades of national service culminated with his appointment as U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan from 2009 until 2011.  Before serving as chief of mission in Kabul, Karl had a 35-year career in the United States Army, retiring in 2009 with the rank of lieutenant general. 

Karl’s military operational posts included commander and staff officer with mechanized, light, airborne, and ranger infantry units in the continental U.S., Hawaii, Korea, and Italy; and in Afghanistan as the commander of the American-led coalition forces. He held various policy and political-military positions ranging from deputy chairman of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Military Committee in Brussels, Belgium; Director for Strategic Planning and Policy for U.S. Pacific Command at Camp Smith, Hawaii; U.S. security coordinator and chief of the Office of Military Cooperation in Kabul; senior country director for China and Taiwan for the Office of the Secretary of Defense; and assistant Army and later defense attaché at the U.S. embassy in Beijing, China.

After his diplomatic and military career, Karl taught at Stanford University and later advised on Saudi Arabia defense transformation planning while living in Riyadh. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; serves on the boards of the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, National Committee on American Foreign Policy, and American Councils for International Education; and is the recipient of the United States Military Academy Distinguished Graduate Award and Harvard University Centennial Medal.