This is a list of Ambassadors of the United States to Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...

.

Kazakhstan had been a constituent SSR

Republics of the Soviet Union

The Republics of the Soviet Union or the Union Republics of the Soviet Union were ethnically-based administrative units that were subordinated directly to the Government of the Soviet Union...

 of the Soviet Union

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

. Upon dissolution of the Soviet Union, Kazakhstan declared independence on December 16, 1991. It was the last of the Soviet republics to declare independence.

The United States recognized

Diplomatic recognition

Diplomatic recognition in international law is a unilateral political act with domestic and international legal consequences, whereby a state acknowledges an act or status of another state or government in control of a state...

 Kazakhstan ten days later on December 26, 1991. The U.S. embassy was established in Almaty

Almaty

Almaty , also known by its former names Verny and Alma-Ata , is the former capital of Kazakhstan and the nation's largest city, with a population of 1,348,500...

 (then named Alma-Ata) on February 3, 1992, with William Harrison Courtney

William Harrison Courtney

William Harrison Courtney, or William H. Courtney is an American diplomat, having served as representative for the U.S. mostly in Eastern Europe....

 as chargé d'affaires ad interim. He was subsequently appointed as the first U.S. ambassador to Kazakhstan.

In 1997 the nation’s capital was moved to Astana

Astana

Astana , formerly known as Akmola , Tselinograd and Akmolinsk , is the capital and second largest city of Kazakhstan, with an officially estimated population of 708,794 as of 1 August 2010...

, where the U.S. embassy is now located.

Ambassadors

• Name: William Harrison Courtney
  William Harrison Courtney
  William Harrison Courtney, or William H. Courtney is an American diplomat, having served as representative for the U.S. mostly in Eastern Europe....
  
   – Career FSO
  • Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
  • Appointed: August 11, 1992
  • Presented credentials: September 15, 1992
  • Terminated mission: Left post July 1, 1995

• Name: A. Elizabeth Jones
  A. Elizabeth Jones
  A. Elizabeth Jones served as the U.S. Ambassador to Kazakhstan, from 1995 to 1997. She served as the U.S. assistant secretary of state for Europe and Eurasia in 2003. She was promoted to the rank of Career Ambassador in 2004....
  
   – Career FSO
  • Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
  • Appointed: October 3, 1995
  • Presented credentials: October 18, 1995
  • Terminated mission: Left post October 12, 1998

• Name: Richard Henry Jones – Career FSO
  • Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
  • Appointed: October 22, 1998
  • Presented credentials: January 23, 1999
  • Terminated mission: Left post June 10, 2001

• Name: Larry C. Napper
  Larry C. Napper
  Larry C. Napper served as the United States Ambassador to Latvia from 1995 to 1998 and as the U.S. Ambassador to Kazakhstan from 2001 to 2004....
  
   – Career FSO
  • Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
  • Appointed: August 3, 2001
  • Presented credentials: September 19, 2001
  • Terminated mission: Left post July 7, 2004

• Name: John M. Ordway
  John Ordway (ambassador)
  John Malcom Ordway is a retired foreign service officer who is currently the Chargé d'Affaires of the United States Embassy in Astana, Kazakhstan since January 13, 2011....
  
   – Career FSO
  • Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
  • Appointed: May 12, 2004
  • Presented credentials: September 17, 2004
  • Terminated mission: Unknown

• Name: Richard E. Hoagland
  Richard E. Hoagland
  Richard Eugene Hoagland is a career ambassador in the United States Department of State. As of 2009, he is the U.S. Ambassador to Kazakhstan. He previously served as the ambassador to Tajikistan 2003–06....
  
   – Career FSO
  • Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
  • Appointed: September 10, 2008
  • Presented credentials: Unknown
  • Terminated mission: January 13, 2011

• Name: John Ordway
  John Ordway (ambassador)
  John Malcom Ordway is a retired foreign service officer who is currently the Chargé d'Affaires of the United States Embassy in Astana, Kazakhstan since January 13, 2011....
  
   – Career FSO
  • Title: Chargé d'Affaires ad interim
  • Appointed: January 13, 2011
  • Presented credentials: Unknown
  • Terminated mission: Unknown

• Name: Kenneth J. Fairfax – Career FSO
  • Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
  • Appointed: July 5, 2011
  • Presented credentials: October 25, 2011
  • Terminated mission: Incumbent

See also

• Kazakhstan – United States relations
• Foreign relations of Kazakhstan
  Foreign relations of Kazakhstan
  Foreign relations of Kazakhstan are primarily based on economic and political security. The Nazarbayev administration has tried to balance relations with Russia and the United States by sending petroleum and natural gas to its northern neighbor at artificially low prices while assisting the U.S. in...
  
  
• Ambassadors of the United States

External links

• United States Department of State: Chiefs of Mission for Kazakhstan
• United States Department of State: Kazakhstan
• United States Embassy in Astana