( CNN ) -- The U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan has a unique résumé : he served two tours in the country as a general , training Afghan police and troops , before trading his uniform for a diplomat 's business suit . His career history may give Karl Eikenberry 's word particular weight as President Obama struggles to come up with a way forward in Afghanistan . Eikenberry sent private cables to Obama last week , urging the president not to rush to send more troops to Afghanistan -- although the top U.S. military commander there , Gen. Stanley McChrystal , wants 40,000 more pairs of boots on the ground . Initial reports about the cables sent by Eikenberry appeared in The New York Times , Washington Post and Los Angeles Times . All three newspapers attributed the reports to senior U.S. officials , without identifying them . Two U.S. officials confirmed to CNN that Eikenberry sent two cables to Washington expressing reservations about troop increases amid uncertainty over President Hamid Karzai 's government . Neither Eikenberry nor the White House would comment on the contents of private advice between the envoy and the president , but the reports alarmed Karzai enough that his office sought confirmation from the U.S. Embassy about them , a Karzai spokesman told CNN . Karzai 's office did not get the information it sought , the spokesman said . Whatever Eikenberry told the president , the ambassador is unusually well versed in the military problems facing Afghanistan . He retired from the Army after nearly 40 years of service with the rank of lieutenant general on April 28 -- one day before he was sworn in as ambassador , according to his State Department biography . His long military career included time in Kabul as U.S. security coordinator and chief of the Office of Military Cooperation . `` Afghanistan has been at the center of my career since 9/11 , when the terrorist-commandeered aircraft crashed into the Pentagon just below the office in which I was working , '' Eikenberry said at his Senate confirmation hearing in March . `` There is no silver bullet and no quick , cheap or easy solutions . There is no substitute for more resources and sacrifice , '' he said then . But , he added : `` There is no exclusively military solution to the issues we and our partners confront in Afghanistan . '' He also advised the U.S. secretary of defense on China , Taiwan , Hong Kong and Mongolia , and was deputy director for strategy , plans and policy on the Army staff . But he 's not new to embassy life , having served as defense attache at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing , China . Eikenberry has a master 's degree in east Asian studies from Harvard , an advanced degree in Chinese history from Nanjing University in China , and is a certified translator from Mandarin Chinese . He 's also clearly attached to his wife , Ching , insisting in his Senate confirmation hearing that she accompany him to Kabul even though State Department rules barred spouses because the country is so dangerous . He prevailed . He and his wife are hosting a dinner Saturday night in Kabul for a visiting U.S. lawmaker .
He retired from the Army after nearly 40 years of service . Military career included assignment in Kabul as chief of Office of Military Cooperation . He advised the secretary of defense on China , Korea , Hong Kong and Mongolia .