Rahima Kandahari: From Afghanistan to American Diplomacy
A young political refugee from Afghanistan who became the first Afghan American woman Foreign Service officer.
- Fled
- Afghanistan
- Status
- Political refugee
- Arrived in the U.S.
- not stated
- Service
- Senior Foreign Service; Deputy Assistant Secretary for Science, Technology, and Space Affairs (2023 to 2025); Director, Office of eDiplomacy
- Region
- Afghanistan, the Middle East, and Africa
Rahima Kandahari came to the United States as a young political refugee from Afghanistan. She has described herself as the first Afghan American woman to serve as a Foreign Service officer.
Her first tour was in Copenhagen, and she served in Jeddah, Bagram, and Kabul, where her final overseas tour brought her back to the country she came from. In Washington she led the Office of eDiplomacy, directed the School of Applied Information Technology at the Foreign Service Institute, served as senior bureau official in the Office of Global Women's Issues, and became Deputy Assistant Secretary for Science, Technology, and Space Affairs. She retired from the Department in 2025 after more than twenty years of service.