A retired US Department of State career diplomat with the rank of Minister Counselor, Annie Pforzheimer was the Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Afghanistan and Deputy Chief of Mission at the US Embassy in Kabul from 2017-2019. She served previously at the US Embassy in Afghanistan from 2009-2010 as the Counselor for Political Affairs, and as director of security assistance at the US Embassy in Mexico (2012-2014). Her thirty-year diplomatic career focused on security, rule of law, international organizations, and human rights.
After leaving government service in 2019, Ms. Pforzheimer is now a non-resident adjunct senior fellow at the Washington, DC-based Center for a New American Security, an adjunct professor of international relations at Pace University and the City University of New York’s Craig Newmark School of Journalism, a human rights advocate, and a foreign and security policy commentator.
She is the author of numerous articles and op-eds on Afghanistan policy, and co-author of studies and articles on issues relating to narcotics trafficking and other international organized crime.
She is the Chair of the Board of Directors for Women for Afghan Women, a non-profit organization with activity in Virginia, New York, and Afghanistan, and a member of the board of the Friends of the American University in Afghanistan.
Ms. Pforzheimer holds a Master of Science degree in National Security Studies from the National Defense University. She is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
