On Monday 10 April 2006 Lieutenant General Karl Eikenberry, U.S. Army, Commanding General of Combined Forces Command – Afghanistan, spoke at the International Institute for Strategic Studies Military Leaders’ Forum on “Afghanistan: The Road Ahead.”
Prior to his current assignment, he was the director for Strategic Planning and Policy for U.S. Pacific Command at Camp H.M. Smith, Hawaii; his operational assignments include service as commander and staff officer with mechanized, light, airborne, and ranger infantry units in the United States, Korea, and Europe.
He has served in various strategy, policy, and political-military posts, including as the U.S. security coordinator and chief of the Office of Military Cooperation in Kabul, Afghanistan; as an assistant Army and later defense attaché at the United States Embassy in Beijing, China; as the senior country director for China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Mongolia in the Office of the Secretary of Defense; and as the deputy director for Strategy, Plans, and Policy on the Army Staff.
He is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy, has earned masters degrees from Harvard University in East Asian Studies and Stanford University in Political Science, and was a National Security Fellow at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. He earned an Interpreter’s Certificate in Mandarin Chinese from the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office while studying at the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence Chinese Language School in Hong Kong and he has an Advanced Degree in Chinese History from Nanjing University in the People’s Republic of China.
His military awards and decorations include the Defense Superior Service Medal, the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star, the Ranger Tab, the Combat and Expert Infantryman badges, and master parachutist wings. He has also received the Department of State Superior Honor Award, the Director of Central Intelligence Award, and Afghanistan’s Akbar Khan Award presented by President Hamid Karzai.
He has published numerous articles on U.S. military training, tactics, and strategy, on Chinese ancient military history, and on Asia-Pacific security issues. He was previously the president of the Foreign Area Officers Association and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
We are delighted to welcome Lieutenant General Eikenberry to the IISS as part of the Military Leaders’ Forum. The Forum has been established to provide a platform for international military officials to address some of the critical issues and ideas affecting war and peace in the twenty-first century.
Meetings take place at Arundel House, 13-15 Arundel Street, Temple Place, London WC2R 3DX. Members who would like to attend are asked to notify Caitlin Brannan at brannan@iiss.org or tel. +44 (0)20 7395 9119.
Seats are allocated on a first notified, first registered basis. This meeting was on the record. All press are requested to bring photo identification.
The IISS Military Leaders’ Forum is made possible through the generous support of KBR.
