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22 September 2003

Bush To Nominate Zalmay Khalilzad As Next Ambassador to Afghanistan

Khalilzad currently serves as special envoy in Kabul

Following is the text of President Bush's September 22 announcement that he will nominate Zalmay Khalilzad as the next U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan:

(begin text)

THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
September 22, 2003

President George W. Bush today announced his intention to nominate one individual to serve in his administration:

The President intends to nominate Dr. Zalmay Khalilzad, of Maryland, to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to his envoy Afghanistan and also nominated him as his Ambassador to that country.

Dr. Khalilzad currently serves as Special Presidential Envoy to Afghanistan, a role he will retain after he is confirmed as Ambassador.

Dr. Khalilzad previously served as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Islamic Outreach and Southwest Asia Initiatives at the National Security Council, and prior to that Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Southwest Asia, Near East, and North African Affairs, National Security Council. He also has been a Special Presidential Envoy to Afghanistan and the Free Iraqis. Dr. Khalilzad headed the Bush-Cheney Transition team for the Department of Defense and has been a Counselor to Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld.

Between 1993 and 1999, Dr. Khalilzad was Director of the Strategy, Doctrine and Force Structure program for RAND's Project Air Force. While with RAND, he founded the Center for Middle Eastern Studies. Between 1991 and 1992, Dr. Khalilzad served as Assistant Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Planning. He also served as a senior political scientist at RAND and an associate professor at the University of California at San Diego in 1989 and 1991.

From 1985 to 1989 at the Department of State, Dr. Khalilzad served as Special Advisor to the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs working policy issues, advising on the Iran-Iraq War and the Soviet War in Afghanistan. From 1979 to 1986, Dr. Khalilzad was an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Columbia University. Dr. Khalilzad received his bachelor's and master's degree from The American University of Beirut, Lebanon. He went on to earn a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago.

(end text)

(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)