NEW PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF UNITED STATES PRESENTS CREDENTIALS

Biographical Note

NEW PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF UNITED STATES PRESENTS CREDENTIALS

Zalmay Khalilzad, the new Permanent Representative of the United States to the United Nations, today presented his credentials to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

Prior to his appointment, Mr. Khalilzad was the United States Ambassador to Iraq, a post he held since 2005.  From 2003 to 2005, he was the United States Ambassador to Afghanistan and a Special Presidential Envoy to Afghanistan.  Prior to that, he was Special Assistant to the President at the National Security Council and Senior Director for Islamic Outreach and South-West Asia Initiatives.  He served as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for South-West Asia, Near East and North African Affairs.  He has also been a Special Presidential Envoy and Ambassador-at-Large for the Free Iraqis.  He headed the Bush-Cheney transition team for the Department of Defense and was a Counsellor to then United States Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. 

From 1993 to 1999, Mr. Khalilzad was Director of the Strategy, Doctrine and Force Structure Programme for the Project Air Force at RAND, where he also founded the Centre for Middle Eastern Studies.  From 1991 to 1992, he was Assistant Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Planning.  In 1991 and 1989, he was a Senior Political Scientist at RAND and an Associate Professor at the University of California at San Diego.  From 1985 to 1989, he was Special Adviser to the Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs at the Department of State, and from 1979 to 1986, Assistant Professor of Political Science at Columbia University.

Mr. Khalilzad is the author of more than 200 books, articles, studies and reports.  He earned a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree from the American University of Beirut, and a doctorate from the University of Chicago. 

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