EPISODE 53:
Adela Raz
Former Ambassador of Afghanistan to the U.S. & the U.N. and Director of Princeton's Afghanistan Policy Lab
“No peace deal has ever succeeded if women’s voice is not included… we did say that Taliban when they come into power they are going to eliminate the rights of Afghan women, and that’s exactly what happened.”
Ambassador Adela Raz is a distinguished Afghan diplomat and trailblazer in international affairs. She served as the final Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to the United States, where she represented her country during a critical and transitional period.
Prior to that, Adela made history as Afghanistan’s first female Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations. In this role, she also served as Vice President of the 75th session of the U.N. General Assembly.
Before her diplomatic tenure at the U.N., Adela served as Deputy Foreign Minister of Afghanistan. In 2013, she broke new ground as the first woman to serve as Deputy Spokesperson and Director of Communications for President Hamid Karzai.
Adela began her career with the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) and went on to work with several international development organisations in both the United States and Afghanistan.
Adela holds a Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School at Tufts University and a Bachelor of Arts with honors from Simmons University, with triple majors in International Relations, Political Science, and Economics. She also holds a certificate in International Development from the Fletcher School.
Adela lives in DC with her husband and 3 children.
Ep 53. Adela Raz, Former Ambassador of Afghanistan to the U.S. & the U.N.
Keeping hope alive for Afghan women and girls
In August 2021, the Taliban swept back into power in Afghanistan after nearly 20 years, toppling the then democratic government in a matter of days.
Adela Raz, was serving as Afghanistan’s Ambassador to the U.S., after having been the country’s first female Permanent Representative to the U.N. She suddenly found herself representing a government that no longer existed. Adela refused to recognise the Taliban’s authority and became an outspoken critic of their oppression of women and girls.
As Afghan women were systematically stripped of their rights - banned from school, erased from public life, and essentially silenced - Adela became a fierce advocate against this gender apartheid, demanding action from the international community. Today, she leads Princeton’s Afghanistan Policy Lab, working to keep Afghanistan’s future on the world’s agenda.
This is Adela’s personal story, and of her continued fight to champion the rights of women and girls.
Recorded February 2025.
