WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Ryan Crocker confirmed on Tuesday that he plans to step down this summer because of ill health and sources said he was held in high regard and was not pushed out.
“Today, Ambassador Ryan Crocker confirmed to the Afghan Government, U.S. Mission Afghanistan, and the ISAF community that he intends to depart his post for health reasons in mid-summer,” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said, referring to the International Security Assistance Force.
Reuters reported on Monday that Crocker, a veteran diplomat who came out of retirement to take the demanding Kabul post, was expected to step down soon, leaving as Washington negotiates a host of challenges on its course out of the long, costly war.
The Obama administration is considering Deputy Ambassador James Cunningham to replace Crocker when he leaves the post as early as this month, sources familiar with the matter said on Monday.
A summit of the 28-nation NATO security alliance, which makes up the core of ISAF, on Monday endorsed an exit strategy that calls for handing control of Afghanistan to its own security forces by the middle of next year.
However, it left unanswered questions about how to prevent a slide into chaos and a Taliban resurgence in Afghanistan after the pullout.
Several sources who spoke on condition that they not be identified said Crocker – a six-time U.S. ambassador – was well-respected and by no means was forced out of his position, among the most challenging in the U.S. diplomatic service.
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A U.S. official who has closely monitored events in Afghanistan said that there was “nobody better in the United States government” than Crocker to deal with Afghanistan.
The official described Crocker as a “pit bull” who was doing a “great job” in handling the shifting Afghan tribal alliances and mercurial Afghan President Hamid Karzai and in keeping U.S. congressional oversight panels apprised of what was going on.
“Ryan Crocker has done superbly the toughest jobs American diplomacy had to offer in the last forty years,” said Ronald Neumann, a former U.S. ambassador to Kabul and president of the American Academy of Diplomacy.
“He’s been bombed, had his house stormed by mobs, and his embassy shot at and never let it divert him from accomplishing his job; something to remember when we weigh the importance of diplomacy to national security,” Neumann added.
Crocker previously served as ambassador in Iraq, Pakistan, Syria, Kuwait and Lebanon and in 2004 former U.S. President George W. Bush gave him a rare honor by awarding him the highest rank in the U.S. diplomatic service – that of career ambassador.
He had unusually challenging assignments, among them going to Kabul in 2002 to lead the reopened mission there and working in Beirut in 1982-83, a period that included bombings of the U.S. embassy and Marine barracks there and Israel’s invasion of Lebanon.
(Additional reporting by Mark Hosenball and Arshad Mohammed; Writing by Arshad Mohammed; Editing by Jackie Frank; Editing by Jackie Frank)