Peter Tomsen is a retired American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 diplomat

Diplomat

A diplomat is a person appointed by a state to conduct diplomacy with another state or international organization. The main functions of diplomats revolve around the representation and protection of the interests and nationals of the sending state, as well as the promotion of information and...

 and educator, serving as United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 Special Envoy to Afghanistan from 1989 to 1992, and United States Ambassador to Armenia

United States Ambassador to Armenia

Upon the breakup of the Soviet Union, Armenia declared its independence on August 23, 1991, having previously been the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic, one of the constituent republics of the USSR since 1936, and part of the Transcaucasian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic since 1920.The...

 between 1995 and 1998. Ambassador Tomsen’s thirty-two year diplomatic career emphasized South and Central Asia, Northeast Asia and the former 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....

.

Early life

Born in Cleveland, Ohio

Ohio

Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...

, Peter Tomsen attended Wittenberg University

Wittenberg University

Wittenberg University is a private four-year liberal arts college in Springfield, Ohio serving 2,000 full-time students representing 37 states and approximately 30 foreign countries...

 in Springfield, Ohio

Springfield, Ohio

Springfield is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Clark County. The municipality is located in southwestern Ohio and is situated on the Mad River, Buck Creek and Beaver Creek, approximately west of Columbus and northeast of Dayton. Springfield is home to Wittenberg...

, receiving a degree in political science in 1962. Tomsen was awarded a Heinz fellowship for post-graduate studies at the University of Pittsburgh

University of Pittsburgh

The University of Pittsburgh, commonly referred to as Pitt, is a state-related research university located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded as Pittsburgh Academy in 1787 on what was then the American frontier, Pitt is one of the oldest continuously chartered institutions of...

. Receiving his master's degree in public and international affairs, Tomsen spent two years working in the Peace Corps

Peace Corps

The Peace Corps is an American volunteer program run by the United States Government, as well as a government agency of the same name. The mission of the Peace Corps includes three goals: providing technical assistance, helping people outside the United States to understand US culture, and helping...

 in Nepal

Nepal

Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...

. Tomsen studied Nepali

Nepali language

Nepali or Nepalese is a language in the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European language family.It is the official language and de facto lingua franca of Nepal and is also spoken in Bhutan, parts of India and parts of Myanmar...

 and taught civics

Civics

Civics is the study of rights and duties of citizenship. In other words, it is the study of government with attention to the role of citizens ― as opposed to external factors ― in the operation and oversight of government....

 and English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 in a newly-founded 80-student college in a Himalayan

Himalayas

The Himalaya Range or Himalaya Mountains Sanskrit: Devanagari: हिमालय, literally "abode of snow"), usually called the Himalayas or Himalaya for short, is a mountain range in Asia, separating the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau...

 town in western Nepal. Tomsen chose to extend his Peace Corps service for six months to be headmaster of a Tibetan

Tibet

Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...

 refugee school.

Diplomatic career

Tomsen passed the Foreign Service written and oral examination in 1966 and was sworn in as a Foreign Service officer in January 1967. He began his career as a junior economic officer on the Thai

Thailand

Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...

desk.

External links

• http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/taliban/interviews/tomsen.html
• http://www.takepart.com/news/2011/05/12/ambassador-peter-tomsen-why-we-are-still-in-afghanistan
• http://www-cgi.cnn.com/2001/COMMUNITY/12/12/ret.tomsen.cnna/index.html
• http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=17111#axzz1TQjz4EV9
• http://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/people/tomsen-peter
• http://www.thenation.com/section/Peter-Tomsen
• http://www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewiStockNews/articleid/2563515
• http://fletcher.tufts.edu/forum/archives/pdfs/25-1pdfs/tomsen.pdf
• http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/55639/peter-tomsen/a-chance-for-peace-in-afghanistan-the-talibans-days-are-numbered