Zalmai Rassoul
Position:
Minister of foreign affairs of Afghanistan

In January 2010, Dr. Zalmai Rassoul received the confidence vote of the Wolesi Jirga (Afghan National Assembly) to serve as minister of foreign affairs of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. Prior to his appointment, Dr. Rassoul served as national security advisor of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan from 2002 to 2010. In that role, Dr. Rassoul had a constructive role in facilitating collaboration between Afghan security and foreign policy institutions. Prior to this appointment, he was nominated by President Hamid Karzai as the minister of civil aviation and was unanimously approved by the cabinet. Under his leadership, Afghanistan’s aviation sector was revived after many years of United Nations sanctions against the Taliban and Afghanistan. Dr. Rassoul played an important role in Afghanistan’s readmission to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the International Air Transport Association (IATA). Prior to his service in the current Afghan Government, Dr. Rassoul served as a delegate to the historic November 2001 Bonn Conference. Following the conference, he accompanied President Karzai to Kabul for the inauguration of the Afghan Interim Administration.