Zalmay Mamozy Khalilzad (born March 22, 1951) is an American diplomat and foreign policy expert. He served as the U.S. special representative for Afghanistan reconciliation from 2018 to 2021. He also served as United States ambassador to the United Nations, serving in the role from 2007 to 2009. He previously served in the Bush administration as ambassador to Afghanistan from 2004 to 2005 and Ambassador to Iraq from 2005 to 2007.
Raised in the Afghan capital of Kabul, Khalilzad came to the United States as a high school exchange student, and later received his doctorate at the University of Chicago. During the Reagan Administration, Khalilzad served in the Department of State, where he advised on the U.S. response to the Soviet–Afghan War. Khalilzad later served as a counselor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and as president of Gryphon Partners and Khalilzad Associates, an international business consulting firm based in Washington, D.C.
Khalilzad was rumored to be a potential candidate in the 2014 Afghan presidential election but ultimately declined to run. In 2017, he was considered for secretary of state by President Donald Trump. 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. In this position, Khalilzad helped broker the US–Taliban deal and facilitating the final United States withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Early life and education While his parents hailed from Laghman Province, Khalilzad was born in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan, and grew up in the country's capital, Kabul. He is an ethnic Pashtun from the Noorzai tribe. Khalilzad began his education at the public Ghazi Lycée school in Kabul.
Khalilzad first spent time in the United States as a high school exchange student with AFS Intercultural Programs in Ceres, California. Later, he attained his bachelor's and master's degrees from the American University of Beirut in Lebanon. Khalilzad received his doctorate at the University of Chicago, where he studied closely with Albert Wohlstetter, a prominent nuclear deterrence thinker and strategist. Wohlstetter provided Khalilzad with contacts within the government and RAND. Khalilzad has contributed at least 28 papers to RAND Corporation.
Early career From 1979 to 1989, Khalilzad served as an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs. During this period, he worked closely with Zbigniew Brzezinski, a key architect of Operation Cyclone, the U.S. initiative to support the Afghan mujahideen resisting the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
In 1984, Khalilzad joined the U.S. State Department on a one-year Council on Foreign Relations fellowship, serving as an adviser to the Bureau of Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs under Assistant Secretary Richard W. Murphy.
From 1985 to 1989, he held senior roles in the Reagan administration, advising on Afghanistan and broader regional policy. He served on the Policy Planning Staff and was the State Department’s special adviser on Afghanistan to Under Secretary of State Michael H. Armacost. In these roles, he contributed to U.S. efforts to support Afghan resistance to Soviet occupation. From 1990 to 1992, he continued in government under President George H. W. Bush as Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Planning. Secondary accounts describe him as one of the drafters of the 1992 Defense Planning Guidance later dubbed the ‘Wolfowitz Doctrine’.
Between 1993 and 2000, Khalilzad directed strategy, doctrine, and force structure studies at the RAND Corporation. He helped establish RAND’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies and the periodical Strategic Appraisal. His publications during this time included influential monographs such as The United States and a Rising China and From Containment to Global Leadership? America's Role After the Cold War. While at RAND, he also briefly consulted for Cambridge Energy Research Associates on a risk analysis for Unocal—now part of Chevron Corporation—regarding the proposed 1,400 km, US$2-billion Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline project from Turkmenistan through Afghanistan to Pakistan.
Support for U.S. global leadership In the mid-1990s, Khalilzad authored several works advocating the importance of sustained U.S. global leadership. His analysis of potential geopolitical instability resulting from a decline in American influence has been widely cited in academic and competitive policy debate contexts.
Khalilzad was also a signatory to the Project for the New American Century’s January 26, 1998 letter to President Bill Clinton, which urged the administration to pursue a comprehensive strategy—diplomatic, political, and military—to remove Saddam Hussein from power.
Views
American politics Khalilzad has been described as a "lifelong Republican", though he did not support Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.
United States' role in the world 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, Khalilzad has embraced the label, authoring an article titled "The Neoconservative Case for Negotiating With Iran" in Politico magazine in 2006.
In 1995, Khalilzad articulated his views regarding the appropriate role of the United States in the Post-Cold War period:The United States should be willing to use force if necessary for this purpose. There are currently two regions whose control by a hostile power could pose a global challenge: East Asia and Europe. The Persian Gulf is critically important for a different reason—its oil resources are vital for the world economy. In the long term, the relative importance of various regions can change. A region that is critical to American interests now might become less important, while some other region might gain in importance."Regarding U.S. military preeminence, Khalilzad argued in favor of maintaining a sufficiently strong military to be able to embark in "two major regional contingencies nearly simultaneously":For the foreseeable future, this means having the capability for fighting two major regional contingencies nearly simultaneously, e.g., Korea and the Gulf. The United States should also acquire increased capabilities for occasional intervention in lesser regional conflicts, such as humanitarian relief operations, and for countering weapons of mass destruction and ballistic and cruise missiles. For the longer term, it should consider moving toward sizing its forces to be able to defeat the plausible military challenges to critical American interests that might be posed by the two next most powerful military forces in the world—which are not allied with the United States.
Afghanistan
Taliban In June 2001, Khalilzad argued that the "United States must act now to weaken the Taliban and stem the spread of Talibanism." In a letter, Khalilzad endorsed the following policies to weaken the Taliban's control over Afghanistan:
change the balance of power by offering assistance to the foes of the Taliban; oppose the Taliban ideology—giving air time over the Voice of America to Taliban opponents and moderate Islamic leaders; press Pakistan to withdraw its support; aid victims of the Taliban; support moderate Afghans through helping to convene a grand assembly to select a broad transitional government; and elevate the importance of Afghanistan at home.
Peace Process in Afghanistan In June 2009, Khalilzad stated the following at a UC Berkeley event: I believe and I've told president Karzai few month ago, because he is talking a lot about reconciliation, which is conceptually an absolute necessity, every war must end, but circumstance must be created for that wish to be successful. I've told him [to] get your house in order first, get the corruption issue dealt with, get governance improved, get services improved, then people would say `ahaa ... i want to be on this side, it looks like it is a better side, the side that is producing resolve.' But if they see your judges are corrupt, and your governors are not providing any services, initially people would think `why should I die for this, I'm going to become neutral`, or worse if the other side is providing more security, let's say, it [sic] will be even more difficult."Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine:
North Korea In a published 1993 paper, he advocated for "trade sanctions" against North Korea, "enhancing U.S. and South Korean military readiness", and "direct military attacks".Use of force by a U.S.—allied coalition has better prospects for achieving the U.S. objective, either by setting back the program or by producing a more compliant North Korea—depending on how much and how effectively the force is applied. However, given the risk of triggering a second Korean war, it is unclear whether the South Koreans or Japanese could be induced to agree.
George W. Bush administration (2001-2009)
U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan
In 2001, President George W. Bush asked Khalilzad to head his transition team for the Department of Defense, and Khalilzad briefly served as counselor to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. In May 2001, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice announced Khalilzad's appointment as special assistant to the president and senior director for Southwest Asia, Near East, and North African affairs on the National Security Council. In December 2002, Bush appointed Khalilzad to the position of ambassador at large for free Iraqis with the task of coordinating "preparations for a post-Saddam Hussein Iraq."The White House – Statement by the Press Secretary (December 2, 2002)
After the terrorist attacks of 9/11, Bush came to rely on Khalilzad's Afghanistan expertise. 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. He served in that position until November 2003, when he was appointed to serve as US ambassador to Afghanistan. Khalilzad held that position from November 2003 until June 2005.
During that time, he oversaw the drafting of the constitution of Afghanistan, was involved with the country's first elections and helped to organize the first meeting of Afghanistan's Loya Jirga (traditional grand assembly). At the June 2002 Loya Jirga to select the Head of State, representatives of the US convinced the former king of Afghanistan, 87-year-old Mohammed Zahir Shah, to withdraw from consideration even though a majority of Loya Jirga delegates supported him. That move angered Pashtuns, who were concerned with the disproportionate power of the Northern Alliance in the Karzai government.New York Times – Afghan Democracy and Its First Missteps By S. Frederick Starr and Marin J. Strmecki, Friday, June 14, 2002 During Khalilzad's tenure as ambassador, the new Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, consulted closely with him on a regular basis about political decisions, and the two dined together regularly.TIME – Inside Karzai's Campaign (October 4, 2004) In 2004 and 2005, he was also involved in helping with the establishment of the American University of Afghanistan (AUAF), which is the first American-style higher learning educational institution in Afghanistan. In 2016, the Friends of the American University of Afghanistan presented him with the International Public Service Award.
U.S. Ambassador to Iraq