David D. McKiernan (born 11 December 1950) is a retired United States Army four-star general who served in Afghanistan as Commander, International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said new leadership was needed as the administration of President Barack Obama launched a new strategy in the seven-year-old War in Afghanistan.

In July 1996, McKiernan joined the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps, serving as the Deputy Chief of Staff G2/G3, forward deployed in both Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Rheindahlen (Mönchengladbach), Germany.

In March 2003, McKiernan led all coalition and United States conventional ground forces that attacked Iraq to remove Saddam Hussein from power.

In their book, Cobra II, military historians Michael Gordon and Bernard E. Trainor suggest that McKiernan was unhappy to hear of the cancellation of the deployment of the 1st Cavalry Division, a 17,000-soldier force that was scheduled to arrive in Iraq as a follow-on reinforcement.

[7] The military was also surprised when McKiernan and his staff were not given command for post-war operations in Iraq, which instead went to V Corps and the newly promoted Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez.