Zalmay Khalilzad: Navigating U.S. Diplomacy and Taliban Relations
Last updated: 8 June 2025 Zalmay Khalilzad, born in 1951, is an American diplomat of Afghan descent, hailing from the Pashtun Noorzai branch of the Durrani tribe. He grew up in Kabul and later moved to the United States as a high school exchange student, eventually earning his doctorate from the University of Chicago. (Pashtun Taliban foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi (left) welcomes U.S.-Pashtun diplomat Zalmay Khalilzad (center) - 20 March 2025) During the Reagan Administration, he worked at the Department of State, providing counsel on U.S. strategies during the Soviet-Afghan War. (Zalmay Khalilzad (center) with Yunus Khalis (left) and Ronald Reagan (right) in Roosevelt Room of White House - November 13, 1987) (Khalilzad always enjoyed being a negotiator between the U.S. president and fundamentalist Pashtun tribal leaders) Beginning his career as a translator and eventually ascending to a prominent role within the United States government, Zalmay Khalilzad has ...