Zalmay Khalilzad. Photo: ariananews.af
Seventy-six civil society and human rights organizations from Afghanistan have issued an open letter demanding international accountability for former U.S. diplomat Zalmay Khalilzad over his alleged role in the country’s political crisis, Khaama reports.
The letter accuses Khalilzad of facilitating the collapse of Afghanistan’s previous government, legitimizing the Taliban*, and granting impunity to individuals implicated in wartime crimes. According to the signatories, his actions paved the way for the Taliban’s return to power and undermined the republican system.
The authors are calling for Khalilzad’s case to be referred to the International Criminal Court. They also seek a ban on his political and consulting activities related to Afghanistan, and an investigation into his media presence and financial connections.
The signatories emphasize that their goal is to achieve justice and hold accountable all those they believe contributed to the fall of the Afghan republic and the Taliban’s resurgence.
The letter was signed by organizations working in the fields of human rights, freedom of expression, transitional justice, and civil resistance. Their official names and logos are listed in an annex to the document. The full letter and supporting materials will be submitted to international bodies, human rights organizations, and leading global media outlets in the coming days.
Earlier in May, 64 organizations focused on human rights and transitional justice called on the International Criminal Court to launch an investigation into Khalilzad’s wife, Cheryl Benard. She is accused of justifying Taliban policies and participating in violations of Afghan women’s rights. Benard has been criticized for downplaying the scale of discrimination under Taliban rule and for calling on refugees to return to Afghanistan. Human rights advocates argue that her actions and rhetoric help legitimize a regime that denies women their fundamental rights.
Zalmay Khalilzad, 74, is a Pashtun and a naturalized U.S. citizen originally from Afghanistan. Under President George W. Bush, he served as special envoy to Afghanistan and later as U.S. ambassador in Kabul. In September 2018, then-President Donald Trump reappointed him as special representative for Afghanistan, a role in which he became a chief architect of the Trump administration’s peace deal with the Taliban, signed in Doha in February 2020.
Khalilzad stepped down from his role in October 2021, shortly after the Taliban seized power in Kabul. In his resignation letter, he acknowledged that the political settlement he helped negotiate under the Trump administration “did not go as planned.”
* The Taliban is recognized as a terrorist organization and is banned in several countries.
