WASHINGTON, Jan 1: The United States has appointed an Afghan-American as special presidential envoy to Afghanistan.

He is Zalmay Khalilzad, who is at present special assistant for southwest Asia, Near East and North Africa on the national security council, a post he will continue to hold.

Dr Khalilzad was earlier tipped to become US ambassador to Kabul, and it is not clear why the administration has not formally nominated him as such. He will work with UN special representative Lakhdar Brahimi and report to Secretary of State Colin Powell.

The US already has two other senior people working on Afghanistan, Richard Haass as special coordinator for Afghan policy and James Dobbins as special representative to the Afghan opposition that is now part of the interim administration in Kabul.

An indication of Dr Khalilzad’s political leanings is provided by the fact that he headed the Bush-Cheney transition team for the defence department and has been a counsellor to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. Between 1993 and 1999, Dr Khalilzad was director of the strategy, doctrine and force structure programme for RAND’s project air force.

While with RAND, he founded the Centre for Middle Eastern Studies. Between 1991 and 1992, Dr Khalilzad served as assistant under secretary of defense for policy planning. He also served as a senior political scientist at RAND and an associate professor at the University of California at San Diego in 1989 and 1991.

From 1985 to 1989 at the Department of State, Dr Khalilzad served as special adviser to the under secretary of state for political affairs, advising on the Iran-Iraq war and the conflict in Afghanistan following the Soviet intervention. From 1979 to 1989, he was an assistant professor of political science at Columbia University. Dr Khalilzad holds a PhD from the University of Chicago (1979).