Lieutenant General Karl Eikenberry (ret.) is a US Army Lieutenant General (ret.) who commanded and held staff positions in airborne, ranger and mechanized infantry units in the United States, Korea, and Europe. He has a distinguished scholarly career with an MA in East Asian Studies from Harvard University. He served as assistant army attaché and later as the defense attaché at the US embassy in Beijing, was ambassador to Afghanistan 2009–2011. He is a distinguished fellow at the Stimson Center, senior advisor to the United States Institute of Peace, and a faculty member of the Schwarzman College at Peking University, where he teaches regularly.