List of ambassadors of Canada to Afghanistan

The ambassador of Canada to Afghanistan is the official representative of the Canadian government to the government of Afghanistan. The official title for the ambassador is Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Canada to the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. The current senior Canadian diplomat titled as the Special Representative of Canada to the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan is David Sproule who was appointed on the advice of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on October 7, 2022.^[2]

Ambassador of Canada to Afghanistan
Incumbent David Sproule (special representative) since October 7, 2022
Seat	Doha, Qatar[1]
Nominator	Prime Minister of Canada
Appointer	Governor General of Canada
Term length	At His Majesty's pleasure
Inaugural holder	Charles Eustace McGaughey
Formation	March 21, 1968

The Embassy of Canada is located at Street No. 15, House No. 256, Wazir Akbar Khan in Kabul, Afghanistan.

History of diplomatic relations

Main article: Afghanistan–Canada relations

Diplomatic relations between Canada and Afghanistan were established in 1968, with the first ambassador, Charles Eustace McGaughey, appointed on the advice of Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson on March 21, 1968.^[3] Diplomatic relations were severed in December 1979 the change in government resulting from the Soviet–Afghan War.^[3] Diplomatic relations were restored between Canada and Afghanistan on January 22, 2002,^[3] following the 2001 Bonn Conference and the appointment of Hamid Karzai as Chairman of the Afghan Interim Administration. Relations between Canada and Afghanistan were suspended on following the fall of Kabul, and the taliban take over.^[4] The most recent Ambassador was Reid Sirrs.

List of Canadian ambassadors to Afghanistan

No.	Name	Term of office			Career	Prime Minister nominated by		Ref.
		Start Date	PoC.	End Date
1	Charles Eustace McGaughey	March 21, 1968	September 17, 1968	July 10, 1969	Career		Lester B. Pearson (1963-1968)
2	Charles John Small	July 15, 1969	October 12, 1969	August 19, 1972	Career		Pierre Elliott Trudeau (1968-1979)
3	John Gaylard Hadwen	May 23, 1972	July 20, 1974	1974	Career
4	Keith William MacLellan	June 10, 1974	October 14, 1974	July 12, 1977	Career
5	William Frank Stone	June 30, 1977	September 25, 1977	August 25, 1978	Career
6	Albert Douglas Small	November 23, 1978	November 8, 1979	1979	Career
—	1979 – January 22, 2002, Diplomatic relations severed as the Canadian government refused to recognize the Afghanistan government
7	Konrad Sigurdson	January 24, 2002		2003	Career		Jean Chrétien (1993-2003)
8	Christopher Alexander	July 31, 2003	September 3, 2003	2005	Career
9	David Sproule	October 5, 2005	December 2005	April 2007	Career		Paul Martin (2003-2006)
10	Arif Lalani	April 24, 2007		August 2008	Career		Stephen Harper (2006-2015)
11	Ron Hoffmann	September 2, 2008		July 2009	Career			[5]
12	William Crosbie	June 9, 2009		September 2011	Career			[6][7]
—	Shelley Whiting (Chargé d'affaires)	November 21, 2011		May 20, 2012	Career
13	Glenn V. Davidson	August 8, 2011	June 2, 2012	July 2013	Non-Career
—	James Hill (Chargé d'affaires)	July 24, 2013		September 28, 2013	Career
—	David Collins (Chargé d'affaires)	August 20, 2013		September 15, 2013	Career
14	Deborah Lyons	July 10, 2013	October 16, 2013	August 2016	Career
15	Kenneth Neufeld	June 1, 2016	September 4, 2016	August 2017	Career		Justin Trudeau (2015–Present)
16	François Rivest	August 17, 2017	August 28, 2017	August 2018	Career
17	David Metcalfe	September 4, 2018	October 8, 2018	October 2020	Career			[8]
18	Reid Sirrs	October 14, 2020	December 29, 2020		Career
—	David Sproule Special Representative of Canada	October 7, 2022		Present	Career			[2]

See also

• Afghanistan–Canada relations
• List of ambassadors of Afghanistan to Canada

References

1. "Canada-Afghanistan relations". Government of Canada. Retrieved April 9, 2023. Canada's Special Representative for Afghanistan, David Sproule, is currently based in Doha, where he coordinates with allies on a joint international response to the crisis in Afghanistan.
2. "Orders In Council PC 2022-1088". orders-in-council.canada.ca. Government of Canada. October 7, 2022. Retrieved December 6, 2022.
3. DeLong 2020, p. 13.
4. McKenzie-Sutter, Holly (August 16, 2021). "Canada closes embassy in Afghanistan as Taliban forces advance on Kabul". Canada's National Observer. Retrieved February 21, 2022.
5. "Ottawa names career diplomat as Afghan ambassador". CTV News. Ottawa. The Canadian Press. September 4, 2008. Retrieved September 4, 2008.
6. "Ottawa appoints new ambassador to Afghanistan". Retrieved June 22, 2009.^{[dead link]}
7. "Canada Appoints Next Ambassador to Afghanistan". June 16, 2009. Archived from the original on July 18, 2011. Retrieved June 22, 2009.
8. Global Affairs Canada (September 7, 2018). "Diplomatic appointments". gcnws (Press release). Retrieved October 19, 2020.

Bibliography

• DeLong, Linwood (2020). A Guide to Canadian Diplomatic Relations 1925-2019 (PDF). Calgary: Canadian Global Affairs Institute. ISBN 978-1-77397-115-5.

External links

• "Heads of Post List – Afghanistan". international.gc.ca. Global Affairs Canada.