Former Afghan Ambassador Adela Raz will speak at an online event hosted by the University of Saint Joseph to mark International Women’s Day on March 8. Before Taliban forces toppled the U.S.-backed government in Kabul in August 2021, it had been represented in Washington, D.C. by Raz.
The event will be held on Zoom at 5:15 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. Free access to the event can be obtained by registering at Eventbrite. Ukrainian Ambassador to the U.S. Oksana Markarova will also speak, as will Iranian-American journalist Roya Hakakian.
The event Global Changemakers: Women & the Fight for Freedom is being sponsored by the World Affairs Council of Connecticut and the Women’s Leadership Center at the university.
Speaking on PBS NewsHour on August 13, 2021, Raz called the withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan “an abandonment.”
The New York Times reported on December 2, 2021 that Raz was continuing to serve as ambassador even though the Taliban had seized control of her country that summer, leaving her with no authority and almost no resources.
The paper quoted Raz as telling a group of U.S. veterans, "Your contributions made a difference. We may have lost a country, but we haven’t lost the nation." On March 11, 2022, the paper said the embassy was closing.
Before coming to Washington, D.C., Raz was her government’s representative at the United Nations. A graduate of Simmons University who received her M.A. in Law and Diplomacy from Tufts University, Raz is now the director of the Afghanistan Policy Lab at Princeton University's School of Public and international Affairs.
The University of Saint Joseph is a Roman Catholic university in West Hartford, Connecticut.
Comments / 0