Zalmay Khalilzad

Zalmay Khalilzad, born on March 22, 1951, in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan, is an Afghan-American diplomat who served as the United States Ambassador to the United Nations, Iraq, and Afghanistan. He was the chief negotiator of the Doha Agreement with the Taliban in 2020. Khalilzad studied at the American University of Beirut and the University of Chicago, earning a PhD in political science. He has been one of the most influential American policymakers on Afghanistan and the broader Middle East. Despite criticism of the Doha Agreement's terms, he played a central role in shaping US-Afghan relations for over two decades.