Biographies
Ambassador William Braucher Wood
Dari Version
Term of Appointment: 04/16/2007 to present
William Braucher Wood presented his credentials as Ambassador to the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan on April 16, 2007. From 2003 to 2007, he was Ambassador to Columbia. From 1998 to 2002, he was the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State and Acting Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of International Organization Affairs, with responsibility for U.S. policy at the United Nations and a number of other multilateral organizations.
Ambassador Wood has been a professional foreign service officer for more than 30 years and has served abroad in Latin America and Europe. In addition to numerous meritorious and honor awards, in 1998 he received the James Clement Dunn Award for Excellence for his work at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations and, in 2002, he received the Distinguished Service Award, the highest award offered by the Department of State.
Ambassador Wood received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy from Bucknell University in 1973 and a Master of Business Administration degree, with a specialization in international finance, from the George Washington University in 1975.
Visit the website of the Embassy of the United States in Kabul, Afghanistan
USAID Mission Director Michael J. Yates
Term of Appointment: 04/2008 to present
In April 2007, Michael J. Yates arrived in Kabul to serve as the seventh U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Mission Director to Afghanistan.
As head of the USAID/Afghanistan team, Yates is responsible for the U.S. Government’s assistance program to Afghanistan. With over 4 billion dollars spent on development programs since 2002, USAID provides the largest bilateral civilian assistance program in Afghanistan. USAID’s work continues to be a vital support to Afghanistan in its efforts to ensure economic growth led by the private sector, establish a democratic and capable state governed by the rule of law, and provide basic services for its people.
A Senior Foreign Service Officer, Yates has been serving USAID for over twenty years. Most recently, Yates was Mission Director in Bolivia, where he directed the U.S. Government’s assistance program that increased confidence in democratic institutions and processes, improved health, increased incomes of Bolivia’s poor, managed biodiversity resources, and promoted licit economic growth in coca-growing and associated areas of the country.
Prior to Bolivia, Yates served as Mission Director in the Philippines, where he supported reintegration of ex-combatants into a peaceful economy in conflict-ridden Mindanao.
His 20-plus years of experience at USAID includes service as the Chief of the Strategic Development and Environment Office in Ecuador (2000-2002), Acting Deputy Mission Director (1999-2000) and Chief of the Environmental Management Office (1997-2000) in the Philippines, and the Environment Program Director in Bolivia (1992-1997). Before joining USAID, Yates conducted fieldwork in Haiti and Paraguay.
Yates holds a Ph.D. and two Masters Degrees in Anthropology from Columbia University, and completed postdoctoral studies in agriculture and rural development through the Rockefeller Foundation. He speaks Spanish and French.