Home > Zalmay Khalilzad

Dr. Zalmay Khalilzad is the highest-ranking native Afghan and Muslim in the Bush administration. He became George W. Bush's special envoy to Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban. He has been a special envoy to Iraqi during the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq. On September 24, 2003, George W. Bush also named Khalilzad the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan and he took his post in Kabul on November 27.

An ethnic Pashtun, he was born in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif and first went to the United States as a high school exchange studentAn exchange student is a student (almost always of high school age) who temporarily goes abroad and lives with a host family in a foreign country, and attend school there. That host family often also sends a child of theirs abroad, usually to the same cou. Khalilzad received his doctorate at the University of ChicagoThe University of Chicago is a university located in Chicago, Illinois. Just over a century old, it includes departments and committees of: Physics, Economics, Music (theory), Sociology, Linguistics, Political Science, Social Thought, International Relati, where he studied closely with strategic thinker Albert WohlstetterAlbert Wohlstetter (died January 10, 1997) was a major intellectual force behind efforts to avoid the spread of nuclear weapons and the need to develop nonnuclear alternatives. He and his wife Roberta Wohlstetter, an accomplished historian and intelligenc.

Khalilzad served under former U.S. Presidents Ronald ReaganRonald Wilson Reagan ( February 6, 1911 June 5, 2004) was the 40th ( 1981 1989) President of the United States and the 33rd ( 1967 1975) Governor of California. Reagan was also an actor in films before entering politics. Early life and career Reagan was b and George H. W. BushGeorge Herbert Walker Bush (born June 12, 1924) was the 41st President of the United States ( 1989 1993). Previously, he had served as ambassador to the United Nations ( 1971 1973), director of the CIA 1976 1977, and the 43rd Vice President of the United as special assistant to the president for Southwest Asia, the Near East and North Africa. From 19851985 is a common year starting on Tuesday. Events January events January 1 Creation of the Internet's Domain Name System. January 17 British Telecom annouces they are going to abolish the famous red telephone boxes. January 23 A debate in the House of Lor to 19891989 is a common year starting on Sunday (click on link for calendar). Events January January 7 Akihito becomes Emperor of Japan following the death of Hirohito. The Heisei period begins January 8 the Kegworth Air Disaster A British Midland Boeing 737 cra, Khalilzad served as a senior United States Department of State official advising on the Soviet war in Afghanistan and the Iran-Iraq war, and from 1991 to 1992, he was a senior Defense Department official for policy planning. He served as a counsellor to Donald Rumsfeld. Khalilzad initially viewed the Taliban as a potential force for stability and as counter balance to Iran, but his views changed over time, especially after the events of September 11.

Khalilzad was an advisor for the Unocal Corporation. In the mid 1990s, while working for the Cambridge Energy Research Associates , Khalilzad conducted risk analyses for Unocal for a proposed 1,400 km (890 mile), $2-billion, 622 m³/s (22,000 ft³/s) natural gas pipeline project which would have extended from Turkmenistan through Afghanistan to Pakistan.

He has served in both the State and Defense Departments and is a member of the United States National Security Council. Khalilzad has been a member of the conservative think-tank Project for the New American Century.