Robert Patrick John Finn was the first United States ambassador to Afghanistan in more than 20 years, from March 22, 2002 until November 27, 2003. He was succeeded by Zalmay Khalilzad.

Finn earned his Ph.D in near eastern studies from Princeton University in 1978 and currently holds a professorship there in Turkic studies. Finn has been a member of the Foreign Service since the early 1980s. He served as the U.S. ambassador to Tajikistan from 1998 through 2001. He has also served in Croatia, Azerbaijan, and Pakistan.