Former Ambassador to Afghanistan, Iraq, United Nations delivers Class of 2024 Powell Lecture

Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad presented the annual Colin L. Powell Lecture for students of the Class of 2024 at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College Sept. 12, 2023, at Fort Leavenworth’s Lewis and Clark Center.

Khalilzad began the morning with his presentation in Eisenhower Auditorium addressing the students of the Command and General Staff Officers Course Class of 2024. After his remarks and a short Q&A, he visited a classroom to have a more intimate question and answer session with a 16-student seminar group. Afterward he had lunch with CGSC senior leaders and faculty along with leadership and trustees of the CGSC Foundation who sponsored his visit to the College.

(Top photo and above) Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad delivers his remarks during the annual Colin L. Powell Lecture for students of the Command and General Staff Officers Course Class of 2024 in Eisenhower Auditorium in Fort Leavenworth’s Lewis and Clark Center Sept. 12, 2023.

That evening Khalilzad was the guest speaker at a downtown Kansas City event hosted by the CGSC Foundation as part of the Foundation’s “Distinguished Speaker Series.” Foundation Trustee Farhad Azima, an old friend of the ambassador, introduced the ambassador during the dinner event and then facilitated the “fireside chat” discussion format with the ambassador after the dinner, which was attended by more than 200 people.

Khalilzad served as the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan from 2003 to 2005; as the U.S. ambassador to Iraq from 2005 to 2007, and as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations from 2007 to 2009. He also served as the U.S. special representative for Afghanistan reconciliation from 2018 to 2021. Prior to his duties as ambassador, Khalilzad served as a special presidential envoy on the National Security Council and a deputy undersecretary in the Department of Defense. He also previously served as a political scientist in the Rand Corporation and as an assistant professor of political science at Columbia University.

Born in Mazar-i-Sharif, and raised in Kabul, Afghanistan, Khalilzad received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the American University of Beirut and his doctorate from the University of Chicago. He is the author of The Envoy: From Kabul to the White House, My Journey Through a Turbulent World.

The Colin L. Powell Lecture Series was established in 2008 to honor the legacy of General Colin L. Powell at Fort Leavenworth. The Powell Lecture Series provides a forum for the discussion of national security issues by prominent national leaders for the benefit of the students and faculty of the Command and General Staff College and the Fort Leavenworth community. Gen. Powell was the first lecturer in 2008. The CGSC Foundation sponsors the series.

For more photos see these albums on the CGSC Foundation Flickr site:

Colin L. Powell Lecture at CGSC

Distinguished Speaker Series Dinner event – Reception photos

Distinguished Speaker Series (DSS) Dinner event – Program photos

Video

Full video of the Ambassador’s conversation at the DSS event (CGSC Foundation YouTube channel)

CGSC Deputy Commandant Brig. Gen. David Foley, left, presents Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad with a commemorative Colin L. Powell coin in appreciation of his presentation as the Colin. L. Powell Lecture Series speaker for Academic Year 2024. CGSC Foundation Interim President/CEO Lora Morgan and Command Sgt. Maj. Jason C. Porras, the Army University Command Sergeant Major, joined in the presentation. The CGSC Foundation sponsors the lecture series each year.

Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad conducts a Q&A session with a seminar group of the Command and General Staff Officers Course after his remarks for the Class of 2024 Colin L. Powell Lecture in Eisenhower Auditorium in Fort Leavenworth’s Lewis and Clark Center Sept. 12, 2023.

Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad conducts a “fireside chat” discussion format with CGSC Foundation Trustee Farhad Azima for the assembled guests during the CGSC Foundation’s Distinguished Speaker Series dinner event at the Carriage Club in downtown Kansas City during the evening of Sept. 12, 2023. The CGSC Foundation, through its Simons Center, conducts the Distinguished Speaker Series program to offer extracurricular, educational lectures intended to help enrich the Command and General Staff School curriculum and provide opportunities for outreach to the public.

Click the video below to watch the Ambassador’s conversation at the Distinguished Speaker Series Dinner event at the Carriage Club in downtown Kansas City during the evening of Sept. 12, 2023.