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Bush Picks Ambassador to Afghanistan
President Bush has decided to name his special envoy to Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, as ambassador. If approved by the Senate, Khalilzad would succeed Ambassador Robert Finn, who was the first ambassador to Afghanistan in more than two decades. Adolph Dubs was killed in 1979 in a shootout in Kabul after he was kidnapped by Afghan Muslim extremists while being driven to the U.S. Embassy.I hope that somewhere on the road to Kabul our SF guys dealt with those extremists. Khalilzad would continue to serve as special envoy, said White House spokesman Scott McClellan. Bush met with Khalilzad Monday morning and formally nominated him later in the day. "Zal has done a great job as special envoy and the president appreciates Zal taking on this new role at such an important time as we continue to build upon the progress we are making in Afghanistan," McClellan said. Khalilzad, an ethnic Pashtun, was born in Mazar-e-Sharif the son of a government worker who moved the family to Kabul. From an upper-class family, he studied at American University in Beirut and earned a doctorate in 1979 at the University of Chicago. Between 1985 and 1989, Khalilzad worked at the State Department, advising on the Iran-Iraq war and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. In 1991 and 1992, he was assistant deputy undersecretary of defense for policy planning, working under Paul Wolfowitz, now in the No. 2 seat at the Pentagon. During the Clinton years, Khalilzad worked on defense and political issues at the Washington office of Rand, a policy think tank. After Bush was elected, Vice President Dick Cheney named him to head Bushâs transition team for defense. In May 2001, Khalilzad was named special assistant to the president and senior director at the National Security Council for the Persian Gulf, southwest Asia and other issues in the region. In the winter of 2000, before he was appointed to the NSC, he outlined his recommendations for U.S. policy goals in Afghanistan in an article published by The Washington Quarterly. Many of his ideas later materialized as policy as Bush began the war on terrorism. Impressive guy. And an alum to boot! Posted by: Steve White 2003-09-24 |
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