The Ambassador of the United Kingdom to Afghanistan is the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

's foremost

diplomatic representative Diplomacy comprises spoken or written communication by representatives of states (such as leaders and diplomats) intended to influence events in the international system.Ronald Peter Barston, ''Modern diplomacy'', Pearson Education, 2006, p. 1 ...

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

, and head of the UK's

diplomatic mission A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually deno ...

Kabul Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into 22 municipal districts. Acco ...

. The official title is His Britannic Majesty's Ambassador to the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. The

Treaty of Rawalpindi The Anglo-Afghan Treaty of 1919, also known as the Treaty of Rawalpindi, was a treaty which brought the Third Anglo-Afghan War to an end. It was signed on 8 August 1919 in Rawalpindi by the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United King ...

of 1921 provided for the exchange of diplomatic representatives between the two countries. Until 1948 the British ministers in Kabul were members of the Indian Political Service, appointed by the Foreign Office.

Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary

* 1922–1929: Sir Francis Humphrys * 1929–1935: Sir Richard Maconachie * 1935–1941: Sir William Fraser-Tytler * 1941–1943: Sir Francis Wylie * 1943–1948: Sir Giles Squire

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary

* 1948–1949: Sir Giles Squire * 1949–1951: Sir John Gardener * 1951–1953: Eric Lingeman * 1953–1957: Sir Daniel Lascelles * 1957–1963: Sir Michael Gillett * 1963–1965: Sir Arthur de la Mare * 1965–1968: Sir Gordon Whitteridge * 1968–1972: Peers Lee Carter * 1972–1976:

John Drinkall John Kenneth Drinkall, CMG (1 January 1922 – 30 May 2015) was a British diplomat. Educated at Haileybury and Imperial Service College and Brasenose College, Oxford, he was Ambassador to Afghanistan from 1972 to 1976. From 1976 to 1981 he was ...

* 1976–1979:

Kenneth Crook Kenneth Roy Crook CMG (30 July 1920 – 24 July 2012) was a British diplomat. He was Governor of the Cayman Islands from 1971 to 1974, and Ambassador to Afghanistan from 1976 to 1979. He was named Companion of the Order of St Michael and St ...

* 1979–1980: Norman Hillier-Fry * 1981–1984: John Garner (''chargé d'affaires'' – no ambassador after the beginning of the

Soviet–Afghan War The Soviet–Afghan War was a protracted armed conflict fought in the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989. It saw extensive fighting between the Soviet Union and the Afghan mujahideen (alongside smaller groups of anti-Soviet ...

) * 1984–1987: Charles Drace-Francis (''chargé d'affaires'') * 1987–1989:

Ian Mackley Ian Warren Mackley (31 March 1942 – 2 January 2014) was a British diplomat. Mackley was educated at Ardingly College. He was British Chargé d'Affaires to Afghanistan between 1987 and 1989, and went on to serve as British High Commissione ...

(''chargé d'affaires'') * 1989–2000: ''No representation'' * 2001–2002: Stephen Evans (''chargé d'affaires'') * 2002–2003: Ronald Nash * 2003–2006: Dame Rosalind Marsden * 2006–2007: Stephen Evans * 2007–2009:

Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles Sir Sherard Louis Cowper-Coles (born 8 January 1955) is a British former diplomat. He was the Foreign Secretary's Special Representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan in 2009–2010. After leaving the Foreign Office, he worked briefly for BA ...

* 2009–2010: Sir Mark Sedwill * 2010–2012: Sir William Patey * 2012–2015: Sir Richard Stagg * 2015–2016: Dame Karen Pierce * 2016–2017: Dominic Jermey * 2017–2018: Sir Nicholas Kay * 2018–2019: Giles Lever ('' chargé d'affaires'') * 2019–2021: Alison Blake *June-November 2021: Sir Laurie Bristow *2021-2022: Dr Martin Longden (non-resident ''chargé d’affaires'' based at the British Embassy in Doha following the fall of Kabul). *2022-present: Hugo Shorter (non-resident ''chargé d’affaires'' based at the British Embassy in Doha following the fall of Kabul).

References

External links

UK in Afghanistan
''gov.uk'' {{Lists of heads of UK diplomatic missions