WASHINGTON, March 11 (Reuters) - President Barack Obama is choosing diplomat Christopher Hill to serve as U.S. ambassador to Iraq and Lieutenant General Karl Eikenberry as ambassador to Afghanistan, the White House said on Wednesday. Hill is currently Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs and was most recently ambassador to the South Korea, where he represented the U.S. delegation in six party talks on North Korea's nuclear program. Those talks included Japan, Russia, China, and South Korea. Eikenberry previously worked as Commander of the Combined Forces Command in Afghanistan and is currently deputy chairman of the NATO military committee in Brussels, Belgium. The White House said in a statement Obama planned to nominate the two men. It also said Obama would nominate Ivo Daalder as the U.S. permanent representative to NATO and Alexander Vershbow as Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs.(Reporting by Jeff Mason)
Former Taliban soldiers display their weapons during a ceremony in the western city of Herat March 10, 2009. Forty Taliban fighters surrendered to the government on Tuesday, according to local authorities. ...
