KABUL, Afghanistan — Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations since last April, said in comments broadcast Wednesday that he will resign “in the next few months” to work in the private sector.
Khalilzad told Afghanistan’s Ariana Television Network that he plans to start a private business.
Richard Grenell, Khalilzad’s spokesman at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, said Khalilzad “has no immediate plans to resign.”
Khalilzad is Afghan-born and also has served as the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, a background that has fueled rumors he might run for president of Afghanistan. But Khalilzad has said repeatedly that he is not a candidate.
He has said he wants a job in the U.S. private sector. He also has said publicly that he does not want to be the last member of the Bush administration to leave office.
