Amb Roya Rahmani

Former Ambassador of Afghanistan to the United States

Ambassador Rahmani serves as a senior advisor at the Atlantic Council’s South Asia Center, a distinguished fellow at the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace, and Security, as well as a senior fellow for international security at the New America Foundation. She is a former Afghan diplomat with nearly two decades of experience working with governments, nongovernmental organizations, and multilateral institutions. Rahmani was the first woman to serve as Afghan ambassador to the United States, first Afghan woman ambassador to Indonesia, and served as the first director-general for regional cooperation at the Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 2007, she received the Best Human Rights Activist Award by the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission. In 2017, Indonesia Tatler named her the “People’s Ambassador,” and in 2019, she was featured on Time Magazine’s “100 Next List” as a “fierce advocate of peace on Afghan terms.” She holds a bachelor’s degree in software engineering from McGill University and a master’s degree in public administration and international law from Columbia University. She is the mother of a young daughter and a passionate believer in the importance of fostering innovation for progress and promoting equality and inclusivity for sustainable peace.