For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
December 31, 2001
President Names Special Envoy for Afghanistan
Statement by the Deputy Press Secretary
President Bush announced today the appointment of Dr. Zalmay Khalilzad
as his Special Presidential Envoy for Afghanistan. The
Special Envoy is a representative to the Afghan people as they seek to
consolidate a new order, reconstruct their country and free it from
al-Qaida and Taliban control. The position of the Special
Envoy was established to underscore the President's support for these
objectives. The Special Envoy will work with the
Representative of the United Nations Secretary General on
Afghanistan. He will report to the President through
Secretary of State Colin Powell. Dr. Khalilzad will continue
as the Special Assistant to the President for Southwest Asia, Near East
and North Africa, reporting through the National Security Advisor, Dr.
Condoleezza Rice.
Dr. Khalilzad headed the Bush-Cheney Transition team for the
Department of Defense and has been a Counselor to Secretary of Defense
Donald Rumsfeld. Between 1993 and 1999, Dr. Khalilzad was Director of
the Strategy, Doctrine and Force Structure program for RAND's Project
Air Force. While with RAND, he founded the Center for Middle
Eastern Studies. Between 1991 and 1992, Dr. Khalilzad served
as Assistant Under Secretary of Defense for Policy
Planning. He also served as a senior political scientist at
RAND and an associate professor at the University of California at San
Diego in 1989 and 1991. From 1985 to 1989 at the Department
of State, Dr. Khalilzad served as Special Advisor to the Under
Secretary of State for Political Affairs, advising on the Iran-Iraq War
and the Soviet War in Afghanistan. From 1979 to 1989, Dr. Khalilzad
was an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Columbia
University. Dr. Khalilzad holds a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago
(1979).
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