Press Releases

U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Ronald E. Neumann Presents Credentials to President Hamid Karzai

August 1, 2005      
105/2005       

Contact: Lou Fintor        
Telephone: 070-23-4553

Ambassador Ronald E. Neumann, the new United States Ambassador to the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan officially presented his diplomatic credentials to Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai during an August 1, 2005 ceremony at Kabul’s Presidential Palace.  He succeeds Dr. Zalmay Khalilzad, who is now serving as U.S. Ambassador to Iraq.

“Mr. President, it is a great honor to take up this position for my country,” Ambassador Neumann said as he presented a diplomatic letter of appointment to President Karzai that was signed by U.S. President George Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Ambassador Neumann served most recently in Baghdad as a senior political-military officer and as the U.S. Embassy’s principal interlocutor with the Multinational Command and with the Coalition Provisional Authority (2004-2005).  He formerly served as U.S. Ambassador to Bahrain (2001-2004) and as U.S. Ambassador to Algeria (1994-1997).

He was sworn in as the newest U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan on Wednesday, July 27, 2005 at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice presided.

Ambassador Neumann's father, Robert G. Neumann, held the post of U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan from 1967 to 1973.  He speaks Arabic and French.

[Note: Photographs of the ceremony are available on the U.S. Embassy Kabul website: www.afghanistan.usembassy.gov]

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