Zalmay Khalilzad

Zalmay Mamozy Khalilzad (born March 22, 1951, age 73) is a former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. Prior to that, he served as U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan, and U.S. Ambassador to Iraq before that. He is a member of President George W. Bush's cabinet and the highest-ranking Muslim in the United States government.

Zalmay Khalilzad was born in the city of Mazari Sharif in northern Afghanistan; he received his B.A. and M.A. from the American University of Beirut, Lebanon. Zalmay Khalilzad was a radical Palestinian activist during his youth, but converted to neoconservatism after studying under Albert Wohlstetter at the University of Chicago, where he received his Ph.D. in Political Science.