Ryan Crocker

Ryan Clark Crocker ( born June 19, 1949 in Spokane, Washington) is an American diplomat. Since July 2011 he has been Ambassador of the United States in Afghanistan. Previously, he was dean of the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A & M University, after he had retired after 37 - year career in the Foreign Service in 2009.

Life

Ryan Crocker graduated from the University College Dublin and the Whitman College in Walla Walla, where, in 1971 with a BA received in English Literature.

After language training in Persian his first foreign assignment was in 1972 at the U.S. Consulate in Khorramshahr. He then served at the new U.S. Embassy in Doha 1974. 1976 Crocker returned to Washington D.C. back to 1978 and completed a 20-month Arabic course at the language school in Tunis. Thereafter, he served in Baghdad and from 1981 to 1984 in Beirut.

The academic year 1984-85 he spent at Princeton University, where he studied Middle Eastern affairs. From 1985 to 1987 he was Deputy Head of Israel and Arab- Israeli affairs. Then he was at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo worked to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait: 1990 Crocker was appointed as the successor of John Thomas McCarthy to the U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon and to the head of the Iraq - Kuwait Task Force. From 1994 to 1997 he was the successor of Edward Gnehm U.S. ambassador to Kuwait, from 1998 to 2001 in Syria, where his residence was ransacked by an angry mob.

In January 2002 he was appointed Chargé d' Affaires ad interim in Afghanistan. From 2004 to 2007, Crocker U.S. ambassador to Pakistan from 2007 to 2009 and U.S. Ambassador to Iraq. In July 2011, he joined then the successor of Karl Eikenberry as ambassador to Kabul.

Prizes and Awards (selection)

Crocker received a 1994 President's Award for Distinguished Federal Civilian Service, 1997, the Department of Defense Distinguished Civilian Service Award, 2008, the Secretary's Distinguished Service Award from the State Department and the 2009 Medal of Freedom by the U.S. President.