Ambassador Adela Raz is the Director of the Afghanistan Policy Lab at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs and a visiting fellow at the Hudson Institute. Ambassador Raz served as the last ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to the United States. Prior to that, she was the first female Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Afghanistan to the United Nations. At the U.N., Amb. Raz was the Vice President of the 75th session of the General Assembly and was appointed by the President of the General Assembly to serve as the co-coordinator on COVID-19-related initiatives. Before her tenure at the U.N., Amb. Raz was the Deputy Foreign Minister of Afghanistan, managing regional and economic cooperation portfolios. She led two major platforms: the Regional Economic Cooperation Conferences on Afghanistan and the Heart of Asia – Istanbul Process. She also helped manage and coordinate the Brussels (2016) and Geneva (2018) Donor Conferences on Afghanistan and led the negotiations on the outcome documents. Amb. Raz initiated the conference on Empowerment of Afghan Women with the government of Kyrgyzstan and created additional confidence-building measures on Women Economic Empowerment as part of the Heart of Asia – Istanbul Process. In 2013, she served as the first female Deputy Spokesperson and Director of Communications for President Hamid Karzai. She began her career with the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan and held various positions in international development organizations in the U.S. and Afghanistan. Amb. Raz holds a Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School at Tufts University and a Bachelor of Arts with honors in International Relations, Political Science, and Economics from Simmons University in Boston. She also earned a certificate in International Development from the Fletcher School at Tufts University.