Roya Rahmani, Afghanistan’s first female ambassador to the United States who left her post in July, accused the former U.S.-backed government in Kabul of a failure to lead the country and of widespread corruption that ultimately paved the way for the Taliban’s victory last month.
Roya Rahmani
Rahmani (born May 1978) is an Afghan diplomat who has served as Afghanistan’s first female ambassador to the United States. Previously, she worked for Afghanistan’s Ministry of Education as a Planning and Evaluation Advisor. She later joined Ministry of Foreign Affairs, first as a senior advisor to the Deputy Foreign Minister. Then as Director General of Regional Cooperation Initiatives (2012-2016).
Before entering government, she worked for several nonprofits that primarily focused on women’s rights and education. She received a bachelor’s degree in software engineering from McGill University in 2003 and a master’s degree in public administration and international law at Columbia University in 2009.
Born in Kabul in 1978, a year before Soviet troops invaded Afghanistan. In 1993, her family fled to Pakistan. Rahmani returned to Kabul in 1998, but refused to leave the house rather than put on a burqa as the Taliban required.
On 14 December 2018, Rahmani was appointed Ambassador to the United States. She took up the post just as President Trump announced his intention to withdraw troops from her country. She replaced Hamdullah Mohib, who had resigned three months earlier to become National Security Advisor.
Ambassador Rahmani also served as Afghanistan’s non-resident ambassador to Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, and the Dominican Republic.
