Roya Rahmani

Roya Rahmani (born May 1978) is an Afghan diplomat who has served as Afghanistan's first female ambassador to the United States and non-resident ambassador to Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, and the Dominican Republic since December 2018[1] and Bolivia.[2] From 2016 to 2018, she served as Afghanistan's first female ambassador to Indonesia, first ever ambassador to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and non-resident ambassador to Singapore.[1]

Roya Rahmani
Ambassador of Afghanistan to the United States
Assumed office
14 December 2018
PresidentAshraf Ghani
Preceded byHamdullah Mohib
Personal details
Born1978 (age 42–43)
Kabul, Republic of Afghanistan
Alma materMcGill University Columbia University

Previously, she worked for Afghanistan's Ministry of Education as a Planning and Evaluation Advisor (2011).[1] She later joined Ministry of Foreign Affairs, first as a senior advisor to the Deputy Foreign Minister (2011), then as Director General of Regional Cooperation Initiatives (2012-2016).[1]

Before entering government, she worked for several nonprofits that primarily focused on women's rights and education.[3] 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.[3]

Early life and education

Rahmani was born in Kabul in 1978,[3] a year before Soviet troops invaded Afghanistan. After the Soviets left in 1989, the country descended into civil war. Her school was closed for months at a time due to the missiles hitting the city.[4] In 1993, her family fled to Pakistan. She recalls “Starting in the ’90s, there was famine and drought, and during the 1992-96 civil war, we were literally pushed out of our homes. I remember our family hugging each other, thinking this would be the last night of our lives”.[4]

Once in Peshawar, she attended a Saudi-funded school for refugees, where she later recalled studying on the roof for an entire school year due to overcrowding.[3] Rahmani commented on her experiences saying that "As an Afghan woman, very early on, like the rest of my cohort, we learned that you have to try to make the best out of what you have. So uncertainty was what dominated most of our lives."[3] She says the experiences of her youth led her to the lifelong motto of "doing the best with what you have".[1]

Rahmani returned to Kabul in 1998, but refused to leave the house rather than put on a burqa as the Taliban required.[3] In 1999, she received a scholarship from the World University Service of Canada and went to McGill University, where she completed a bachelor's degree in software engineering.[3] After graduating in 2004, Rahmani returned to Afghanistan and worked for various nonprofits, eventually deciding to alter her career focus and return to school.[4] She says "It became like a mission in my life that if I could do anything, anything, to stop a bomb from going off and killing people, or even a person, if I could do that, my mission in life is completed."[3]

In 2009, she completed a master's degree in public administration and international law at Columbia University in New York.[5] She was a Fulbright scholar.[6]

Career

Nonprofit Work

After graduating with her bachelor's degree in 2004, Rahmani returned to Afghanistan and worked for several Canadian nonprofits focusing on human rights, women's empowerment, and education.[1][3] She also worked part-time as a subject matter expert with the NATO Joint Forces Training Center, and a consultant to the New York Department of Education, the United Nations Secretariat in New York, the Department of Trade and International Affairs of Canada, Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan, Women Living under Muslim Laws, and other INGOs.[1]

During this time Rahmani worked on a marriage document that secured equitable rights for the family and contributed to data collection at a national level.[1] She received the Best Human Rights Activist Award from the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission in 2007 for her work on this document.[7]

Government Work

Rahmani joined the Afghan government, first in the Ministry of Education, then as a senior advisor to the Deputy Foreign Minister in 2011.[1][3] From 2012 to 2016, she served as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Director General for Regional Cooperation.[4] In this role she initiated and promoted important regional cooperation initiatives, like the Heart of Asia-Istanbul Process. [1]

Ambassador to Indonesia

From June 2016-December 2018, Rahmani served as Afghanistan's first female ambassador to Indonesia, non-resident ambassador to Singapore, and first ever ambassador to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.[1][8][9] She was the second woman appointed as an ambassador by President Ashraf Ghani, after he vowed to give women more leadership positions.[8] She said Muslim women could introduce a narrative of a "dynamic Muslim", proving that religion is not a static force.[10]

Ambassador to the United States

On 14 December 2018, Rahmani was appointed Ambassador to the United States by President Ghani, the first woman to hold the position.[11][3][12] She took up the post just as President Trump announced his intention to withdraw troops from her country.[13] She said, "women have been treated like a minority, but they are not a minority. Together, the women and the youth are actually a majority, and they are not willing to give up their rights. They are not willing to compromise their human rights and go back to the old days."[13] She replaced Hamdullah Mohib, who had resigned three months earlier to become National Security Advisor.[14]

Ambassador Rahmani also serves as Afghanistan's non-resident ambassador to Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, and the Dominican Republic.[1]

Women's rights

Rahmani spent several years working at nonprofits that focused on women's rights and education. At this time, her work focused particularly on family law reform in the Muslim context.[1] She worked with Musawah to reform a marriage contract in Afghanistan to ensure more equitable family rights.[15] Rahmani and Musawah "decided to prioritise the marriage contract because it seemed to be a feasible and practical remedy to secure the rights of women within families. Amending the family law required complex procedures, whereas the marriage contract only needed the Supreme Court’s approval”.[16]

Rahmani also took part in the inaugural Indonesian Congress of Women Ulama while serving as ambassador to Indonesia.[17] She encouraged the formation of more women's ulamas, saying "It's time to get angry about violence committed in the name of our religion that we practice every day to seek refuge and peace."[18]

After becoming ambassador to the United States, she continued to advocate for women's rights, especially women's role in the peace process. She has consistently said that a peace deal that ignores half of the population will not work.[11] She argues the essential role of women in the peace process makes women's rights not just an ethical issue, but a matter of national security.[19]

Peace process

In May 2019, Rahmani criticized the Trump government after Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad engaged in direct talks with the Taliban, who have rejected engaging in talks with the Afghan government, saying "They are not our government, they are not our representatives" and that ending the war "should be decided by the people who are most affected by the process."[20]

TIME Magazine referred to Rahmani as "a fierce advocate for peace on Afghan terms".[21] She has spoken repeatedly on the need for the Taliban to directly engage with Afghan society and government if they are to become a part of it.[13] According to Rahmani, "if [the Taliban] want peace, they would have to sit with the government."[22]

Awards and Recognitions
  • In 2007, Rahmani was awarded the Best Human Rights Activist Award by the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission for her work on a marriage document that secured equitable rights for the family and contributed to data collection at a national level.[7]
  • In 2017, her work in Indonesia led her to be named “The People’s Ambassador” by Tatler Indonesia.[23]
  • In 2019, she was included on TIME Magazine's "100 Next List" in 2019 because she was a “fierce advocate of peace on Afghan terms.”[21]
  • In 2019, she was recognized by the Alliance for Peacebuilding for her efforts to create an inclusive peace process.[1]

Publications
Articles
Date Title Source
June 5th, 2010 "Condemning Weapon Shows won't stop wars" Ottawa Citizen[24]
May 1st, 2012 "Donors, beneficiaries, or NGOs: whose needs come first? A dilemma in Afghanistan" Development in Practice Journal[25]
July 21st, 2019 "Pakistan can benefit from a stable and thriving Afghanistan" CNN[26]
September 27th, 2019 "Amb. Roya Rahmani: Elections in Afghanistan are critical -- They need US support on the path toward peace" Fox News[27]
May 16th, 2020 “Afghanistan’s two wars: terrorism and the coronavirus” The Hill[28]
August 10th, 2020 “Afghan Women Should Be the Centerpiece of the Peace Process” Foreign Policy[29]
September 11th, 2020 “After the terror of Sept. 11, Sept. 12 is about progress and hope for Afghanistan” Washington Examiner[30]

Personal life

Rahmani is married and has one daughter, born in 2014.[3] She is a Muslim.[31] She is a fluent speaker of Dari, Pashto, and English, and has a basic understanding of Urdu and French.[4]

References
  1. "Biography". Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. Retrieved 2020-04-07.
  2. "AFGHAN DIPLOMATIC MISSIONS - CONSULAR AFFAIRS". Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Islamic Rspublix of Afghanistan. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
  3. Dunatov, Gabriel (March 8, 2019). "Afghan Ambassador Roya Rahmani: 'We Will Not Be Going Back To The Time Prior To 2001'". NPR. Retrieved May 24, 2019.
  4. Luxner, Larry (2019-12-03). "Afghanistan's First Female Ambassador to U.S. Insists Peace Is Still Possible". washdiplomat.com.
  5. "Alumni News". Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs. 2019-12-13.
  6. "Spring International Language Center and U of A Host Fulbright Afghanistan Re-Entry Seminar". University of Arkansas News. 2019-04-10. Retrieved 2020-04-02.
  7. "Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission Annual Report 2007" (PDF). Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission. 2008.
  8. "Roya Rahmani starts work as the Afghan Ambassador to Indonesia". Khaama Press. June 2, 2016. Retrieved May 25, 2019.
  9. Revi, Amitabh P. (September 20, 2018). "Two 30-Plus Power Women In Reckoning For Afghan Envoy To U.S." Strategic News International. Retrieved May 25, 2019.
  10. Fitri Rahmadhani, Nurul; Nurbaiti, Ati (April 26, 2017). "Role of women seen as vital to resisting Islamic extremism". The Jakarta Post. Retrieved May 25, 2019.
  11. Martin, Rachel (January 29, 2019). "Afghan Ambassador To The U.S. Is Optimistic U.S. Won't Abandon Afghans". NPR. Retrieved May 24, 2019.
  12. "Ambassador Roya Rahmani presented her credentials to President Trump". Khaama Press. January 15, 2019. Retrieved May 25, 2019.
  13. Groll, Elias; Seligman, Laura (February 12, 2019). "Afghan Women Are 'Not Willing to Give Up Their Rights'". Foreign Policy. Retrieved May 25, 2019.
  14. "Ms. Roya Rahmani appointed Afghanistan ambassador to the United States". Asia-Plus. November 26, 2018. Retrieved May 25, 2019.
  15. Brant, Robin (2009-02-18). "Securing rights for Muslim women". BBC. Retrieved 2020-04-09.
  16. Balchin, Cassandra (2010-03-10). "Negotiating Bliss". openDemocracy. Retrieved 2020-05-01.
  17. Symons-Brown, Bonny (2017-04-28). "Muslim women called on to challenge sexism in the name of Islam". www.abc.net.au. Retrieved 2020-05-01.
  18. Diani, Hera (2017-05-04). "Inaugural Indonesian Women Ulema Congress Targets Gender Injustice". Magdalene. Retrieved 2020-05-01.
  19. Innskeep, Steve (2020-03-02). "Deal With Taliban Could Lead To The End Of America's Longest War". NPR (Morning Edition). Retrieved 2020-05-01.
  20. Muñoz, Carlo (May 16, 2019). "Trump administration leaves Afghanistan in dark with direct Taliban talks". The Washington Times. Retrieved May 25, 2019.
  21. Baker, Aryn (2019). "TIME 100 Next 2019: Roya Rahmani". TIME. Retrieved 2020-04-01.
  22. Riechmann, Deb (2019-08-07). "Afghan ambassador: Taliban attacks undermine peace talks". AP News. Retrieved 2020-04-07.
  23. Sjahrial, Kevin (2017-07-14). "HE Roya Rahmani Talks About Ambassadorial Duties And Her Home Country". Indonesia Tatler. Retrieved 2020-04-02.
  24. "Condemning Weapon Shows won't stop wars', by Roya Rahmani". Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan. 2010-06-05. Retrieved 2020-04-01.
  25. Rahmani, Roya (2012-05-01). "Donors, beneficiaries, or NGOs: whose needs come first? A dilemma in Afghanistan". Development in Practice. 22 (3): 295–304. doi:10.1080/09614524.2012.664622. ISSN 0961-4524. S2CID 154898868.
  26. Rahmani, Roya (2019-07-21). "Pakistan can benefit from a stable and thriving Afghanistan". CNN. Retrieved 2020-04-03.
  27. Rahmani, Roya (2019-09-27). "Amb. Roya Rahmani: Elections in Afghanistan are critical -- They need US support on the path toward peace". Fox News. Retrieved 2020-04-01.
  28. Rahmani, Roya (2020-05-16). "Afghanistan's two wars: Terrorism and coronavirus". The Hill. Retrieved 2020-10-21.
  29. Rahmani, Roya. "Afghan Women Should Be the Centerpiece of the Peace Process". Foreign Policy. Retrieved 2020-10-21.
  30. Rahmani, Roya (2020-09-11). "After the terror of Sept. 11, Sept. 12 is about progress and hope for Afghanistan". Washington Examiner. Retrieved 2020-10-21.
  31. "Afghanistan is not about guns, dust and burqas". The Jakarta Post. July 1, 2016. Retrieved May 25, 2019.
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