Zalmay Mamozy Khalilzad (Pashto/ - Zalmay Kh alīlzād) (born: 22 March 1951) is the permanent United States Ambassador to the United Nations. He has been involved with U.S. policy makers at the White House since the early 1980s, and is the highest-ranking Afghan American and Muslim in the Administration of U.S. President George W. Bush. International House at the University of Chicago - Alumni In The News, Ambassador Zalmay M. Khalilzad, PhD '79 Khalilzad's previous assignments in the Administration include U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan and U.S. Ambassador to Iraq. He strongly supports the independence of Kosovo, considered, however, illegal by so many countries. However, in the other hand, he doesn't support the possible independence of the separatist region of Abkhazia.