23 Facts About Zalmay Khalilzad

Zalmay Khalilzad was rumored to be a potential candidate in the 2014 Afghan presidential election, but ultimately declined to run.

Zalmay Khalilzad was appointed by Trump to serve as Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation on September 5,2018, remaining in the position under President Joe Biden until October 18,2021.

From 1979 to 1989, Zalmay Khalilzad worked as an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs.

In 1984, Khalilzad accepted a one-year Council on Foreign Relations fellowship to join the US State Department, where he was an adviser to the Near East and South Asia Bureau, headed by Richard W Murphy.

Between 1993 and 2000, Zalmay Khalilzad was the director of the Strategy, Doctrine, and Force Structure at the RAND Corporation.

Zalmay Khalilzad wrote several articles on the subject of the value of US global leadership in the mid-1990s.

Zalmay Khalilzad was a signatory of the letter from members of the Project for the New American Century to President Bill Clinton sent on January 26,1998.

Zalmay Khalilzad has been described as a "lifelong Republican", though he did not support Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.

Zalmay Khalilzad has sometimes been characterized as a neoconservative, with one profile in The Guardian in 2006 characterizing him as "combin[ing] the commitment of an American neocon with the cultural sensitivity of his Islamic background".

At times, Zalmay Khalilzad has embraced the label, authoring an article titled "The Neoconservative Case for Negotiating With Iran" in Politico magazine in 2006.

In 1995, Zalmay Khalilzad articulated his views regarding the appropriate role of the United States in the Post-Cold War period:.

In June 2001, Zalmay Khalilzad argued that the "United States must act now to weaken the Taliban and stem the spread of Talibanism".

In June 2009, Zalmay Khalilzad stated the following at a UC Berkeley Event:.

Zalmay Khalilzad was involved in the early stages of planning to overthrow the Taliban and on December 31,2001, he was selected as Bush's Special Presidential Envoy for Afghanistan.

Zalmay Khalilzad served in that position until November 2003, when he was appointed to serve as US ambassador to Afghanistan.

Zalmay Khalilzad held that position from November 2003 until June 2005.

Zalmay Khalilzad began his job as the US Ambassador to Iraq on June 21,2005.

Zalmay Khalilzad was credited for helping negotiate compromises which allowed the ratification of the Constitution of Iraq in October 2005.

Zalmay Khalilzad worked to ensure that the December 2005 elections ran smoothly and played a substantial role in forming the first post-Saddam government.

Zalmay Khalilzad was unanimously confirmed by the Democratic-controlled US Senate on March 29,2007.

In November 2007, Zalmay Khalilzad charged that Iran was helping the insurgent groups in Afghanistan and Iraq.

On September 9,2014, a news items appeared in the Austrian media, stating that Zalmay Khalilzad was being investigated by authorities in Austria for suspected money laundering, and that his wife's accounts had been frozen.

In 2022, Politico reported that Zalmay Khalilzad attended a dinner with Russian ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov amid the 2022 Ukraine War.