Zalmay Khalizad

Interview with Zalmay Khalilzad

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Biographical Note:

Zalmay Khalilzad served as ambassador to Iraq from 2005 to 2007. Born and raised in Afghanistan, Khalilzad went on to earn his Ph.D. at the University of Chicago, and to a decade of academic work at Columbia University in the 1980s. During that time, Khalilzad also began his career in government service, including in the State Department during the Reagan administration, and in the Defense Department under George H.W. Bush. Before his appointment as ambassador to Iraq in 2005, Khalilzad served in the George W. Bush administration as special assistant to the president and senior director for Southwest Asia, Near East, and North African Affairs, and as special envoy and ambassador to Afghanistan (2001-05). 

Citation:

Zalmay Khalilzad, interview by Hal Brands, Meghan O’Sullivan and Timothy Sayle, 25 June 2015. "The Surge" Collective Memory Project, Center for Presidential History, Southern Methodist University.