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Term of Appointment: 8/2012 to present
Dept of State
James B. Cunningham, U.S. Ambassador to the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan
Ambassador Cunningham was sworn in as U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan on 08/12/2012. Ambassador Cunningham previously served as the Deputy Ambassador.
Before his tenure in Kabul, Ambassador Cunningham was the U.S. Ambassador to Israel, beginning August 2008. Prior to Israel, he was U.S. Consul General in Hong Kong, responsible for the Hong Kong and Macau Special Administrative Regions of China. Previously, he was Ambassador and Deputy U.S. 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 U.S. 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.Just after Iraq invaded Kuwait in August 1990, Ambassador Cunningham became Deputy Political Counselor at the U.S. Mission to the UN. From 1993 to 1995, he served as Director of the State Department's Office of European Security and Political Affairs, with responsibility for many aspects of U.S. policy toward Europe. He served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Rome from 1996 to 1999.Ambassador Cunningham was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania and graduated magna cum laude from Syracuse University, with degrees in political science and psychology. He is married to Leslie Genier of Mineville, New York. They have two daughters. Ambassador Cunningham is the recipient of the Department's Superior, Merit and Performance awards; the National Performance Review's Hammer Award for innovation in government management; the President's Meritorious Service Award; and the Conference of Presidents of major Jewish Organizations' National Service Award. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Asia Society.
Visit the website of the Embassy of the United States in Kabul, Afghanistan
Term of Appointment: 6/2012 to present
Ambassador Hilda M. Arellano, Coordinating Director for Development and Economic Affairs (CDDEA)
Ambassador Hilda M. Arellano is the Coordinating Director for Development and Economic Affairs, U.S. Embassy Kabul, Afghanistan, effective June 2012.
Before joining Embassy Kabul, she served as the Counselor to the United States Agency for International Development. She previously served as the USAID Mission director in Cairo, Egypt. Ms. Arellano joined USAID in 1987 and was first assigned to Ecuador as a General Development Officer. From 1990-1993 she served in Guatemala as Democracy Officer before becoming Deputy Mission Director (1993-1996), Deputy Mission Director in Bolivia (1996-1998), and Mission Director in Ecuador (1998-2001). From 2001-2004 she served as Mission Director for the Regional Services Center for Europe and Eurasia in Budapest, Hungary, and from 2004 to 2006 in Lima, Peru. She then assumed the Directorship of USAID/Iraq from 2006-2007 before her assignment in Egypt.
A graduate of Cornell University with a BA in Political Science, Ms. Arellano has a Master of Arts in Political Science from the University of Texas at Austin. She also received her Masters of Arts in Teaching from Antioch College. She speaks Spanish, Portuguese, and French.
Before joining USAID, Ms. Arellano lived and worked in Latin America, as well as other developing countries, for 17 years. In 1971 Ms. Arellano joined the United Nations Volunteer Program and was posted to Peru and Bolivia for three years working on credit projects for rural women. From 1974 to 1979 she worked with the World Bank and the UNDP as a program evaluation consultant and manager for income generation projects targeted to low income women. From 1979 to 1986 she managed the Appropriate Technology for Rural Women Project that was jointly sponsored by the Organization of American States and USAID. From 1986-1987 she was personal services contractor with USAID/Bolivia managing rural and non-formal education projects.
A native of Westfield, New Jersey, Ms. Arellano and her husband, Jorge, have four children, Marcelo, Michael, Daniel, and Cristina.
Term of Appointment: 6/2011 to present
USAID
Dr. S. Ken Yamashita
As head of the USAID/Afghanistan team, Yamashita is responsible for the U.S. Government’s assistance program to Afghanistan. With more than $13.1 billion provided for development programs since 2002, USAID has the largest bilateral civilian assistance program in Afghanistan. USAID’s work continues to be a vital support to Afghanistan in its efforts to ensure economic growth led by the private sector, establish a democratic and capable state governed by the rule of law, and provide basic services for its people.Dr. S. Ken Yamashita was sworn-in as the tenth U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Mission Director to Afghanistan on June 10, 2011. A Senior Executive Foreign Service Officer with a rank of Minister Counselor, Yamashita has served USAID for more than 20 years in both overseas and Washington, D.C. assignments.
Most recently, Yamashita served as the Mission Director for USAID in Colombia. In this capacity, he managed a $200 million a year development portfolio aimed at developing alternatives to illicit crops production, re-establishing government presence in remote areas of the country, assisting vulnerable populations, and preventing human rights violations.
Prior to that, Yamashita served as Acting Assistant Administrator for the Bureau for Europe and Eurasia (E&E), U.S. Agency for International Development where he directed a $650 million annual budget that supported economic growth and fiscal reform, democracy-building, and social transition in the 15 European and Eurasian countries receiving U.S. foreign assistance.
Yamashita’s other USAID assignments include Senior Deputy Assistant Administrator for the E&E Bureau; Director of the Office of Health for USAID/Ecuador; Chief of the Health Policy Division, Global Center for Health, Population, and Nutrition, USAID/Washington; Director of the Office of Health, USAID/South Africa; Interim Mission Director, USAID Mission Director for Kosovo; and Deputy Mission Director of USAID/Peru. From 2006-2008, Yamashita was simultaneously the Director of Office of HIV/AIDS within USAID’S Bureau for Global Health and the USG Special Advisor for Orphans and Vulnerable Children, an appointment designated by the USAID Administrator through delegated authority of the U.S. Secretary of State.
Before joining USAID, Yamashita worked for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Futures Group, and the United Nations.
A native of Kobe, Japan, Yamashita received a B.A. in environmental engineering from the Johns Hopkins University in 1975, and a Ph.D. with a concentration of population and development economics from the Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health in 1980. He has received numerous awards and citations for his contributions to development, including the prestigious Presidential Meritorious Rank Award in 2009.
Yamashita is married and has two children.
BIO Ken Yamashita (English)
BIO Ken Yamashita (Dari)
BIO Ken Yamashita (Pashto)
Term of Appointment: 4/2011 to present
Robert Sauers/USAID
USAID Deputy Mission Director Brooke Isham
In April 2011, Brooke Isham began her current assignment as a Deputy Mission Director in Afghanistan. Her primary responsibility is field operations.
Ms. Isham began her career with USAID as an International Development Intern in Washington, D.C. in 1993. From 1994 to 1995, she worked as a Program Economist for USAID in Mali.
From 1996 to 1998, Ms. Isham was a Project Development Officer and Deputy Program Officer for USAID/Central Asia.
Ms. Isham served for five years with USAID in Russia, first as a Deputy Program Officer from 1998 through 2001, and then as the Director for the Office of Economic Policy Reform until 2003.
Following her assignments in Russia, Ms. Isham went to USAID/Jordan where she worked as the Director of the Office of Program Management until 2007. Her next assignment was the Deputy Mission Director of USAID/Sudan, a position she held until the end of 2009.
In 2010, Ms. Isham served as the Director of the Office of Food for Peace in Washington, D.C.
Ms. Isham received a Ph.D. in commodity economics in 1992 from Stanford University after obtaining a master’s degree in applied economics and a bachelor’s degree in economics, both at Stanford University.
BIO Brooke Isham - English
BIO Brooke Isham - Dari
BIO Brooke Isham - Pashto
Term of Appointment: 5/2012 to present
Deputy Mission Director James Stein
Jim Stein began his career as a Foreign Service Officer in 1987, joining USAID as an International Development Intern. Prior to his assignment to Kabul as a Deputy Mission Director, he was Director of the Strategy and Program Office in the Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC/SPO). He has served in Serbia (2007-2010), Guatemala (2003-2007), India (1998-2003), Indonesia (1995-1998), Washington (1992-1995), and Ecuador (1988-1992). He was a volunteer in the Philippines from 1977 to 1979 at the International Institute for Rural Reconstruction, with Volunteers in Asia, a volunteer organization based at Stanford University.
Mr. Stein has directed USAID offices and projects in the areas of economic policy reform, private sector competitiveness, small enterprise development, financial and capital market development, public finance, urban water and sanitation, microfinance, and agriculture and rural development policy. As the Director of LAC/SPO, he managed the Bureau’s annual program budget formulation and execution processes, program operations reporting, and country program strategy formulation and approvals.
Mr. Stein earned a B.A. in economics from Stanford University (1977) and an M.A. in city and regional planning from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1982). He is married and has two children.
BIO James Stein (English)
BIO James Stein (Dari)
BIO James Stein (Pashto)
Term of Appointment: 9/2012 to present
USAID Deputy Mission Director Sarah Wines
Sarah Wines began her career as a Foreign Service Officer in 1987, joining USAID as a Housing and Urban Development Officer. Prior to arriving in Kabul in September, 2012 as a Deputy Mission Director, she served for four years as Deputy Mission Director for USAID’s Regional Mission in Ukraine, Moldova, and Belarus, based in Kyiv. With USAID, she has served in Honduras, Jordan, South Africa, Guatemala, and several countries in Eastern Europe. Prior to USAID, she was a Research Associate at the Urban Institute, a think tank in Washington, DC, where she worked on infrastructure finance programs in the United States. Ms. Wines has directed USAID offices and programs in the areas of environmental infrastructure, energy policy and infrastructure, low income housing, municipal governance, private and public finance, agriculture, and employment generation.
Ms. Wines has a B.A. in Economics and Spanish Literature from the University of California, Davis, and a Master in City Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She holds a teaching certificate in Early Childhood Development and Learning. Ms. Wines was born in Italy and grew up in Chile. She is a native Spanish speaker, with working knowledge of French, Italian, and Russian. She has two daughters.
BIO Sarah Wines (English)
BIO Sarah Wines (Dari)
Last updated 14 Feb 2013
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