Allan Mustard | |
|---|---|
 | |
| United States Ambassador to Turkmenistan | |
| In office 2014–2019 | |
| President | Barack Obama Donald Trump |
| Preceded by | Laura E. Kennedy |
| Succeeded by | Matthew Klimow |
| Personal details | |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | |
Allan Phillip Mustard is a retired American agricultural economist and career diplomat who served as the United States Ambassador to Turkmenistan from 2014 to 2019. He was the chair of the OpenStreetMap Foundation (2019-2021), and advises the Caspian Policy Center.
Mustard's father, Donald, was a veterinarian; [1] his mother was a teacher. [2] Mustard was raised on a dairy farm in Brady, [2] in Grays Harbor County, Washington, where he attended Montesano High School. [1] He was subsequently educated at Grays Harbor College. [3] In 1978 he graduated with BAs in Political Science, and in Slavic Languages and Literature, from the University of Washington, Seattle. [3]
Mustard's early positions included work as a guide-interpreter for the U.S. International Communication Agency in Kishinev, Moscow [3] and at Rostov-na-Donu, in the then USSR, and a year as a social worker with the Jewish Family Service in Seattle. [2] [3] While in the USSR he met an agricultural attaché, who encouraged him to study agriculture as a route to his desired career in the diplomatic service. [1] He achieved an MS in agricultural economics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1982. [3]
Mustard's first permanent government role, from 1982 to 1986, was as an agricultural economist at the Foreign Agricultural Service of the Department of Agriculture, in Washington DC. [2] [3] From 1986 to 1988 he was an assistant agricultural attaché at the U.S. embassy in Moscow, USSR. [2] [3] During that period, the Soviets withdrew all local staff from the embassy, so Mustard's ability to touch-type in Russian saw him doubling up in a clerical support role. [2] In 1988 he became an agricultural trade officer at the Consulate General in Istanbul, Turkey, serving there until 1990. [2] [3]
He was back at the Foreign Agricultural Service from 1990, first as deputy coordinator for Eastern Europe and the Soviet Secretariat, being promoted to deputy director of the Emerging Democracies Office in 1992. [2] [3]
From 1996 to 2000 he served as agricultural counselor at the U.S. embassy in Vienna, where he had responsibility not only for Austria, but also Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Slovenia. [2] [3]
This was followed by another period in Washington, D.C., first as assistant deputy administrator for foreign agricultural affairs at the Foreign Agricultural Service (2000-2002) and then as a Fellow in the Senior Seminar in Foreign Relations at the Department of State (2002-2003).
From 2003 to 2008 he served as Agricultural Minister-Counselor, back at the Moscow embassy, and from 2008 to 2011 in the equivalent position at the U.S. embassy in Mexico City, Mexico. [2] [3] From 2011 he was in an equivalent position in New Delhi, India. At the embassy there he had responsibility for programs in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, including food aid in the latter. [2]
He was sworn in as U.S. Ambassador to Turkmenistan on November 25, 2014. [3] In October 2015 he was joined at a groundbreaking ceremony for a new embassy building in Turkmenistan's capital, Ashgabat, by the city's mayor. [4] Following his June 2019 retirement, [5] he was succeeded by Matthew Klimow.
In June 2020 he was one of 612 former diplomats, senior military officers, and other government officials who signed an open letter expressing alarm at calls by President Donald Trump and others for the use of U.S. military personnel to end Black Lives Matter protests on U.S. soil. [6]
During his ambassadorship, Mustard was a proponent of OpenStreetMap, as well as an active volunteer mapper. [7] [8] At the North American Cartographic Information Society's annual banquet in 2019, he gave a keynote address on his mapping in Turkmenistan. [9] He also gave keynote presentations at the OSM annual conference, State of the Map in 2016 [10] and 2020. [11] He gave the opening keynote at State of the Map Europe in 2023 [12] . In December 2019, he was elected chair of the board of the OpenStreetMap Foundation. [13]
He describes himself as a Wikipedian. [14]
Mustard has received the United States Department of Agriculture's Distinguished Honor Award (the agency's highest); and its Superior Honor Award (twice); as well as the Grand Decoration of Merit in Gold of the Republic of Austria (the country's highest for a foreigner). [15]
Mustard is married to Ann Anderson Mustard, a former CBS Radio News correspondent, [2] whom he courted at the University of Illinois. [16] They have one daughter. [17]
He sits on the advisory board of the Caspian Policy Center. [15]
Mustard speaks Russian, German and "basic Spanish". [3]
The economy of Turkmenistan continues to recover from the 2014 downturn in hydrocarbon prices, but remains "in the grip of its worst economic crisis since the immediate post-independence period, driven in part by low gas prices, the suspension of gas exports to Russia between 2016 and 2019...and poor harvests." Former President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow at a session of the Cabinet of Ministers on March 11, 2021, called the rate of GDP growth unsatisfactory. When discussing the 2021 government budget, he noted that 2021 would be "as difficult" a year as 2020 had been.
Turkmenistan's declaration of "permanent neutrality" was formally recognized by the United Nations in 1995. Former President Niyazov stated that the neutrality would prevent Turkmenistan from participating in multi-national defense organizations, but allows military assistance. Its neutral foreign policy has an important place in the country's constitution. Although the Government of Turkmenistan claims to favour trade with and export to the United States, and Turkey, its single largest commercial partner is China, which buys the vast bulk of Turkmen natural gas via the Central Asia–China gas pipeline. Turkmenistan has significant commercial relationships with Russia and Iran and growing cross-border trade with Afghanistan. The Government of Turkmenistan often appears to use the conflicting interests of these regional powers as a means to extract concessions, especially on energy issues.
Ashgabat or Asgabat, formerly named Poltoratsk between 1919 and 1927, is the capital and the largest city of Turkmenistan. It lies between the Karakum Desert and the Kopetdag mountain range in Central Asia, near the Iran-Turkmenistan border, and it has a population of 1,030,063.
Turkmenistan is a landlocked country in Central Asia bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the south and southwest and the Caspian Sea to the west. Ashgabat is the capital and largest city. It is one of the six independent Turkic states. The population is about seven million and is thus the lowest of the Central Asian republics, and Turkmenistan is one of the most sparsely populated nations in Asia.
Ahal Region is one of five provinces of Turkmenistan. It is in the south-center of the country, bordering Iran and Afghanistan along the Kopet Dag Range. Its area is 97,160 km2 (37,510 sq mi) and population 939,700.
Richard Monroe Miles is an American diplomat.
The Ministry for National Security or MNS is the secret police agency for the government of Turkmenistan. It is composed largely of the remnants of KGB organs left over after the collapse of the Soviet Union; its functions remain largely the same as well. The MNB and the national police force are under the direction of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Until 2002, it was known as the KNB.
Turkmenistan – United States relations are bilateral relations between Turkmenistan and the United States.
Russia–Turkmenistan relations are the bilateral relations between Russia and Turkmenistan. Russia has an embassy in Ashgabat and a consulate-general in Türkmenbaşy. Turkmenistan has an embassy in Moscow. In 1885 the modern-day Turkmenistani region became absorbed into the Russian Empire. After 1924 it became a Soviet Socialist Republic within the Soviet Union until declaring independence in 1991. The two nations have thus been mutually friendly for the past centuries.
The Republic of Uzbekistan has an embassy in Ashgabat. Turkmenistan has an embassy in Tashkent. Both countries were previously subordinated republics of the Soviet Union as Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic and Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic before its collapse in 1991.
Bilateral diplomatic relations exist between Armenia and Turkmenistan. Armenia has an embassy in Ashgabat. Turkmenistan has an embassy in Yerevan.
The contemporary borders of the nations of Afghanistan and Turkmenistan are the products of The Great Game in Central Asia between the British and Russian Empires. As a result, the two countries have some cultural ties, with Afghanistan having 1.2 million Turkmen, the third largest Turkmen population behind Iran and Turkmenistan.
Magtymguly Avenue, transliterated from Russian as Makhtumkuli, is an avenue in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan. It is considered to be the longest and most prominent avenue in the capital
Caryn R. McClelland is an American diplomat who is serving as the United States ambassador to Brunei. She assumed office in 2022.
The Taliban has ruled Afghanistan as the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan since taking control by force in 2021, overthrowing the internationally recognized Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. The takeover was widely criticized by the international community, and no countries have extended diplomatic recognition to the new regime, despite nominally maintaining relations with Afghanistan. The Taliban has campaigned for international recognition since the takeover. Several countries have vowed never to recognize the Islamic Emirate, and others have said they will do so only if human rights in the country are respected. Some countries have accredited Taliban diplomats at the chargé d'affaires level despite not recognizing the Islamic Emirate. In September 2023, China became the first country to formally name a new ambassador to the country since the takeover, even though China still does not formally recognize the Taliban.
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