With a unique perspective on the challenges and opportunities in Iraq and Afghanistan, Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, former ambassador under President George W. Bush to the United Nations, Iraq and Afghanistan, joined the Council this past week for an in-depth discussion on the Middle East. At the outset, he humbly noted that during his time in public office, he “had the privilege of having to work in times of great change and challenge.” On Afghanistan, he discussed the challenges of setting up a government following the overthrow of the Taliban in a country that for the past 30 years had very few functioning institutions and very little existing infrastructure. On Iraq, he highlighted some of the early mistakes that took place following the invasion, including the dissolving of the Iraqi army, deep de-Baathification, and the way the new Iraqi security forces incorporated armed and violent militias. As a Muslim of Afghan descent, Ambassador Khalilzad emphasized that to succeed in the Middle East, one has to have a feel for the region, a feel for the culture, a feel for the customs. He noted that following 9/11 when there was a great demand for Arabic speakers and Middle East experts, too many people in the government had a background in Soviet and Russian affairs. More specifically, “during the post-9/11 world of policy, a lot of people around the president advising him were very smart people, most of them were my friends and are still my friends, but they were not trained [and] did not have significant experience in dealing with the broader Middle East, with the challenges of the Islamic world.”
Watch a highlight clip of the event:
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Were any questions raised about the torture and killing of gays in Iraq? The NY Times, CNN, and other outlets have reported on surging violence and death against gays in Baghdad. Would like to know if the former ambassador addressed this problem in anyway at the forum last week.
Unfortunately, the Ambassador did not touch on this topic during his talk. He does, however, touch on topics ranging from how to succeed diplomatically in the Middle East, US intelligence, plans before invading Afghanistan and Iraq, to what Afghanistan reconstruction looked like following the Taliban and the success of the surge in Iraq.