Dr. Zalmay Khalilzad United States Ambassador to Iraq Baghdad, Iraq

Dr. Zalmay Khalilzad was nominated Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to Iraq by President Bush on April 5, 2005. He was sworn in on Tuesday, June 21, 2005 in Baghdad. Before serving as U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, Dr. Khalilzad served as Ambassador to Afghanistan from November 2003 until June 2005.

Dr. Khalilzad was born in Afghanistan. He obtained his undergraduate and graduate degrees from the American University of Beirut, Lebanon and earned his doctorate from the University of Chicago. From 1985-1989, he served as the State Department’s Special Advisor on Afghanistan to the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs.  Between 1993 and 1999, Dr. Khalilzad served as the Director of Strategy, Doctrine and Force Structure program for the RAND Corporation’s Project Air Force. During his career at RAND, Dr. Khalilzad founded the Center for Middle Eastern Studies.

For his service in Afghanistan, Secretary Rumsfeld awarded Dr. Khalilzad the Defense Department medal for outstanding public service. President Karzai awarded him the King Ghazi Ammanullah Medal, Afghanistan's highest medal. Dr. Khalilzad is also the author of more than 200 books, articles, studies, and reports.