US Ambassador to Afghanistan Ryan Crocker to Step Down
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Scott J. Ferrell/Congressional Quarterly(WASHINGTON) — U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Ryan Crocker will step down this summer due to “health reasons,” State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland confirmed Tuesday. His departure will come “following the Kabul and Tokyo conferences,” Nuland said in a statement.
Nuland would not elaborate on what is ailing the U.S. ambassador, but she did say that Crocker’s departure was not driven by his “heavy workload,” but instead something specific that he has been “working through.”
Nuland said Crocker is making his health concerns public because he wants to make it clear that his leaving should not be seen “in any way as a lessening of his personal commitment and our national commitment to Afghanistan.”
Crocker was appointed out of retirement in 2011.
Critics say one of the problems with the Afghan mission is the turnover of generals and top diplomats, few of which have lasted more than two years at their posts.
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