The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan was a militant Islamist group formed in 1998 by Islamic ideologue Tahir Yuldashev and former Soviet paratrooper Juma Namangani; both ethnic Uzbeks from the Fergana Valley. Its original objective was to overthrow President Islam Karimov of Uzbekistan and create an Islamic state under Sharia; however, in subsequent years, it reinvented itself as an ally of Al-Qaeda. The group also maintained relations with Afghan Taliban in 1990s. However, later on, relations between the Afghan Taliban and the IMU started declining.
A chargé d'affaires, plural chargés d'affaires, often shortened to chargé (French) and sometimes in colloquial English to charge-D, is a diplomat who serves as an embassy's chief of mission in the absence of the ambassador. The term is French for "charged with business", meaning they are responsible for the duties of an ambassador. Chargé is masculine in gender; the feminine form is chargée d'affaires.
Tracey Ann Jacobson is an American diplomat and a former United States Ambassador to Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kosovo and Ethiopia. She served as the Acting Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs from January 2017 through October 2017. She retired then returned to active duty in 2021 as the State Department's Director of the Afghanistan Task Force, and then as Chargé d’Affaires, ad interim, at the Embassy in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. She attended Johns Hopkins University.
Terrorism in Central Asia is largely a cross-border phenomenon. The source of most terrorists and terrorist organizations that operate in Central Asia is Afghanistan due to the presence of the Taliban, and more formerly, Al Qaeda militants, as well as the Ferghana Valley due to the Tajik Civil War.
Prior to the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) posed the greatest threat to the Karimov administration. In 2002 the IMU was reclassified as terrorist by the United States. Since the invasion, the IMU has been greatly weakened due to US military actions which cut off its supply of resources and killed its leader, Juma Namangani.
The threat of terrorism in Kazakhstan plays an increasingly important role in relations with the United States which in 2006 were at an all-time high. Kazakhstan has taken Uzbekistan's place as the favored partner in Central Asia for both Russia and the United States. Kazakhstan's counter-terrorism efforts resulted in the country's 94th ranking among 130 countries in the 2016 Global Terrorism Index published by the Institute of Economics and Peace. The higher the position on the ranking is, the bigger the impact of terrorism in the country. Kazakhstan's 94th place puts it in a group of countries with the lowest impact of terrorism.
James Peter Zumwalt is an American diplomat with expertise in trade, economy, and East Asia. On November 19, 2014, he was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the U.S. Ambassador to Senegal and to Guinea-Bissau. Previously, he worked as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, covering Japan and Korea. Until December 2011, he was the Deputy Chief of Mission of the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo where he also served as chargé d'affaires ad interim during the absence of an Ambassador from January to August 2009. He coordinated the U.S. Embassy's response to the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.
Atul Keshap is an American diplomat and career United States Foreign Service Officer from Virginia who recently served as the Chargé d'affaires of the United States mission to India. He formerly served as U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka and the Maldives and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State of the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs at the United States Department of State. In January, 2022, he was appointed as the president of U.S.-India Business Council. In 2022, Ambassador Keshap was elected into membership of the American Academy of Diplomacy. In May 2023, Keshap was named one of Washington's most influential foreign policy influencers for his work to shape U.S. relations with India.
Philip Scott Kosnett is an American diplomat. He was sworn in as the fifth U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Kosovo on November 27, 2018. Kosnett's previous assignment was as Chargé d'Affaires ad interim at the United States Embassy in Ankara, Turkey. Kosnett was nominated in July 2018 by U.S. president Trump to be the next ambassador to the Republic of Kosovo. The Senate confirmed him in this position in September 2018. Kosnett arrived in Kosovo in December 2018 and departed post in September 2021.
George P. Kent is an American diplomat. He is ambassador to Estonia since February 21, 2023. George Kent served as deputy assistant secretary of state for the European and Eurasian Affairs from 2018 to 2021. As a United States Foreign Service officer, his early service has included assignments in the U.S. diplomatic missions to Poland, Thailand and Uzbekistan. In 2004, he was assigned to serve as deputy political counselor in Kyiv, Ukraine, and was deputy chief of mission in Kyiv from 2015 to 2018.
Laura Elizabeth Kennedy is a retired United States career diplomat, who has served as U.S. Ambassador to Turkmenistan, U.S. Permanent Representative to the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State.
The C5+1 is a diplomatic summit that has been held every year since 2015 between the foreign ministers of the five Central Asian countries of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, with the United States Secretary of State to discuss and work on common issues of concern to improve and strengthen the U.S. relationship with the five Central Asian states, but to also enhance the relations between the individual nations in Central Asia. The format is used to discuss regional issues such as the war in Afghanistan, the Syrian civil war, the War on terror, combatting drug and human trafficking, economic issues regarding trade relations, job growth in the region, and combatting environmental issues.
Angela Price Aggeler is an American diplomat who is the United States ambassador to North Macedonia.
Robin L. Dunnigan is an American diplomat who has served as the United States ambassador to Georgia since 2023.
Patricia A. Lacina is an American diplomat who served as Chargé d'affaires to India (2021–2022), Consul-General at the U.S. Consulate in Frankfurt, Germany (2018–2021), Principal Deputy Executive Secretary in the Office of the Secretary of State (2015–2017), and Deputy Chief Information Officer for Business Management and Planning and Chief Knowledge Officer (2013–2015).
Stephanie Hallet is an American diplomat and she had served chargé d'affaires ad interim at the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem from July 2023 to November 2023.
