Karzai accepts US envoy’s credentials

KABUL James Cunningham.

During a ceremony at the Presidential Palace, Karzai also discussed with the diplomat enhanced cooperative relations between Afghanistan and the US.

A statement from his office said that the president expressed his willingness to work for lending greater strength and depth to bilateral ties.

For his part, the ambassador thanked Karzai and promised to do his bit during his diplomatic assignment to further boost Afghan-US cooperation.   

Cunningham previously served as deputy ambassador to Afghanistan. Before his tenure in Kabul, he was the US ambassador to Israel, beginning August 2008. 

Prior to Israel, he was US consul general in Hong Kong, responsible for the Hong Kong and Macau Special Administrative Regions of China. 

He was Ambassador and Deputy US Permanent Representative to the United Nations (1999-2004) and acting permanent representative from January to September 2001. Ambassador Cunningham holds the rank of Career Minister in the Foreign Service.

After early tours in Stockholm, Washington, Rome and the US Mission to NATO, he served as chief of staff to NATO Secretary General Manfred Woerner from 1988 to 1990.

He advised the Secretary General on all NATO issues in the context of the unification of Germany and the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact and the Soviet Union.

Ambassador Cunningham was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania and graduated magna cum laude from Syracuse University, with degrees in political science and psychology.

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