Karen B. Decker
Karen B. Decker is an American diplomat who served as the U.S. chargé d'affaires to Afghanistan from August 1, 2022 to July 28, 2025.
Career
A career Foreign Service officer of the United States Department of State, Decker has served in Pakistan, Bosnia, Greece, Estonia, Turkey, Syria, and Afghanistan. She was sent to Pakistan as her first overseas DOS assignment in 1990. Decker subsequently served in Bosnia from 1995 to 1998 and at the U.S. Mission to NATO from 1998 to 2001. She proceeded to serve as a political counselor in Greece from 2003 to 2006 and the deputy chief of mission at the Embassy of the United States, Tallinn from 2007 to 2010. From 2012 to 2014, Decker served as a DOS senior civilian representative in eastern Afghanistan.In 2016 she was appointed the director of the Syria Transition Assistance Response Team, overseeing START field operations in Turkey and Syria until 2018. Decker served as the deputy chief of mission at the Embassy of the United States, Kabul from September 2018 to September 2020 before being appointed as chief of mission and chargé d'affaires of the U.S. Mission to Afghanistan in 2022. In addition to participating in Operation Allies Refuge in 2021, she has also worked at the United States Institute of Peace and Foreign Service Institute. Decker is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Director General’s Award for Reporting and Analysis from Colin Powell in 2001 and the Distinguished Honor Award in 2020.