Peter Tomsen | |
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![]() Peter Tomsen as envoy to Afghan resistance, circa 1989 | |
2nd United States Ambassador to Armenia | |
In office September 6, 1995 –September 6, 1998 | |
President | Bill Clinton |
Preceded by | Harry J. Gilmore |
Succeeded by | Michael C. Lemmon |
Personal details | |
Born | Cleveland,Ohio,U.S. | November 19,1940
Alma mater | Wittenberg University University of Pittsburgh |
Occupation | Diplomat |
Peter Tomsen (born November 19,1940) is an American retired diplomat and educator,serving as U.S. Special Envoy to Afghanistan from 1989 to 1992, [1] United States Ambassador to Armenia between 1995 and 1998, [2] [3] [4] [5] and was Deputy Ambassador at the United States Embassy in Beijing from 1986 to 1989. [6] Ambassador Tomsen’s thirty-two year diplomatic career emphasized South and Central Asia,Northeast Asia and the former Soviet Union.
Tomsen was born in Cleveland,Ohio on November 19,1940. [7] He graduated from Sycamore High School in Cincinnati,Ohio,and attended college at Wittenberg University in Springfield,Ohio,receiving a degree in political science in 1962. Tomsen was awarded a Heinz fellowship for post-graduate studies at the University of Pittsburgh. Receiving his master's degree in public and international affairs,Tomsen spent two years working in the Peace Corps in Nepal. [8] Tomsen studied Nepali and taught civics and English in a newly founded 80-student college in a Himalayan town in western Nepal. Tomsen chose to extend his Peace Corps service for six months to be headmaster of a Tibetan refugee school.
Ambassador Tomsen entered the Foreign Service in 1967. He served as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs,1993 - 1995,and was United States ambassador to Armenia from 1995 to 1998. [9] He was deputy chief of mission of the U.S. Embassy in Beijing,spanning from 1986 to 1989. He served in the political-military office of the U.S. Embassy in Bangkok,1967 - 1968. After a year of Vietnamese language training in Washington in early 1969,he was assigned to the U.S. Civilian-Military Advisory Organization in South Vietnam,1969 - 1970. He was a political officer of the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi,1971 - 1975;a political officer of the U.S. Embassy in Moscow,1977 - 1978;and a political officer of the U.S. Embassy in Beijing,1981 - 1983. From 1984 to 1987,he served in the Department of State as office director of India,Nepal,Sri Lanka,Bhutan,and the Maldives. [6]
1989-1992:US Special Envoy to Afghanistan.[ better source needed ] [1]
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