The Role Of Khalilzad.

It was on April 5 that the Bush administration nominated Khalilzad, the ambassador to Afghanistan, to become the new ambassador to Iraq. In her announcement, expected weeks earlier, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Khalilzad - a voluble, blunt man who served on the National Security Council staff during President George W. Bush's first term - "has a proven record of building consensus and achieving results in very tough situations". His predecessor Negroponte was selected by Bush to be America's first director of national intelligence. During an appearance with Ms Rice at the State Department on April 5, Khalilzad pledged to "work with all Iraqis, all sects, all ethnic groups, men and women, to accelerate success in Iraq".

Khalilzad will bring fresh energy to the embassy at the Green Zone as well as a strong link to the White House. He will be the third US envoy to Iraq since the war, each having brought a distinct style to dealing with the country's affairs. Following US administrator Paul Bremer's heavy-handed style, and Negroponte's behind the scenes approach, Khalilzad brings a penchant for political negotiation and Middle Eastern-style intrigue. His experience mediating between stubborn Afghan factional leaders should serve him well in Iraq, where he will face a religiously and ethnically divided political field. His love of the limelight and closeness to President Karzai fed the impression that the ambassador called the shots.

He will face a tougher situation in Iraq, where the US is fighting a two-year old Sunni/Salafi/Baathist insurgency and faces entrenched factions to which it cannot dictate terms. In Kabul his dynamism and pull in Washington have been credited with revitalising the US nation-building effort since his arrival in November 2003. Officials at the embassy in Kabul say Khalilzad made an increase in US assistance to Afghanistan a condition of his tenure.

Khalilzad, who was born in northern Afghanistan, educated at the American University of Beirut but emigrated to the US, helped steer rival Afghan political leaders towards consensus on the new constitution in early 2004 and persuaded opposition candidates to abandon a boycott of last year's presidential election.